Eighteen Mile Creek (also known as Eighteenmile Creek) is a tributary of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

located in southern Erie County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. The creek is the second largest tributary of Lake Erie in New York State. The name is derived from the creek's distance south of the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are diffe ...

in Buffalo. The creek was named ''Koughquaugu Creek'' by the

Seneca Nation The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western Ne ...

Course

From its source in the town of

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, Eighteen Mile Creek flows north and then west before entering Lake Erie at the community of Highland-on-the-Lake in the town of

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) * List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska * Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans Cit ...

. It has one major tributary, the South Branch Eighteen Mile Creek, which joins the main branch within Eighteen Mile Creek Park in the town of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. The creek drains an approximately

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

Geology

The lower section of Eighteen Mile Creek has been known for its abundance of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s since the 19th century. The faces of the creek's gorges expose bands of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

overlain by

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

which yield numerous fossils dating from the middle to late

Devonian Period The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

. These include

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

s such as '' Heliophyllum'' and '' Favosites'' in addition to various species of

crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...

s, bryozoans,

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of marine and freshwater Mollusca, molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hing ...

s, and

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...

s. Portions of the creek and surrounding area in the town of

have been designated as a "Critical Environmental Area" due to its abundance of fossils.
Map of the Critical Environmental Area
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Public use

Sportfishing

Eighteen Mile Creek is utilized by anglers seeking Lake Erie

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...

during their annual

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

runs that take place from mid-October to early May.

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

are also sought year-round. Fishing access is facilitated by of "public fishing rights"

conservation easements In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...

secured along the creek and its major tributary, the creek's South Branch. An additional of stream access is available within Eighteen Mile Creek County Park; the portion located along the main stem within the park is a

catch and release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posing, posed photography as trophy, proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooke ...

area where only artificial lures are permitted. Eighteen Mile Creek is stocked annually by the

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protection ...

. In 2014, 20,000 steelhead and 660 brown trout were stocked in the stream, and an additional 20,000 steelhead were stocked in the creek's South Branch.

Parks and forests

Eighteen Mile Creek Park, a county park, is located at the confluence of Eighteen Mile Creek's main stem and its South Branch in the town of Hamburg. The park is largely undeveloped with the exception of hiking trails and a small parking area. It is managed by the Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry and includes a gorge along the creek. A small parking lot on South Creek Road provides access to of hiking trails, as well as access for fishing along the creek. In November 2015, the Erie County Parks Department announced that a forested parcel at the headwaters of Eighteen Mile Creek had been purchased by the county in order to prevent commercial development. The acquisition took place in collaboration with

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

and the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, who together with the county aimed to raise $320,000 for the purchase. The newly purchased forest in the town of

joins other county lands protecting the creek's headwaters, helping to provide habitat for fish and wildlife in addition to improving drinking water quality within the region. Over of land near the creek's headwaters are protected by the county, and are accessible to the public for passive recreation such as hiking.

References

{{authority control Rivers of New York (state) Rivers of Erie County, New York Tributaries of Lake Erie