Chautauqua County is receiving a share of $2 million of state funding for water quality projects.

Richard A. Ball, state agriculture commissioner, recently announced the funding to county Soil and Water Conservation Districts across the state through the Ecosystem Based Management – Stream Corridor Management Pilot Program.

Awarded projects will help to protect water quality and the long-term health of the State’s waterways. Funding for the program was included in the state’s 2026 budget.

“The Ecosystem Based Management program is focused on water quality protections both on and off the farm to ensure a cleaner, more resilient New York, but they will also support the economic viability of our state’s agricultural industry for generations to come,” Ball said. “I commend our partners in this effort – our Soil and Water Conservation Districts across the state – for spearheading projects that will make significant improvements to the health of our waterways and soils and support the State’s climate and environmental goals.”

Grants support activities that improve or protect stream corridors, including stream stabilization, establishment of riparian buffers, and the reduction of roadside erosion and sedimentation due to runoff and failing culverts systems.

The Chautauqua Soil and Water Conservation District received the following grants:

– Canadaway Creek Stream Stabilization: $100,000 to protect water quality in Lake Erie through the stabilization of a section of Candaway Creek, providing instream habitat for spawning steelhead and protecting the source water to the City of Dunkirk’s drinking water intake.

– Walnut Creek Streambank Stabilization: $61,155 was awarded to stabilize a section of Walnut Creek, a trout stream and tributary to Lake Erie, keeping the centerline of the stream in the center of the channel, and installing a buffer of willow live stakes to filter stormwater.

– Slippery Rock Creek Stabilization: $34,235 was awarded to stabilize a section of Slippery Rock Creek, a tributary to Lake Erie, preventing soil loss and stream encroachment onto a nearby road and its shoulders, increasing the long-term resilience of the road.

– Tupper Creek Streambank Stabilization: $36,105 was awarded to protect the water quality of Tupper Creek through the stabilization of its streambanks to prevent soil loss and sedimentation of nearshore Lake Erie, filter stormwater runoff, and protect Steelhead habitat.

– Sawalhi Streambank Restoration: $47,985 was awarded to protect the water quality of an unnamed tributary to Lake Erie through the stabilization of a section of its streambanks, preventing soil loss and sedimentation of nearshore Lake Erie and increasing the climate resiliency of the town park it flows through.

– Schofield Grade Stabilization: $26,370 was awarded to protect the water quality of a highly eroding very steep and straight downslope unnamed tributary to Lake Erie through the stabilization of the streambed to prevent sedimentation of nearshore Lake Erie and soil loss from the agricultural cropland and vineyards it flows through.

– Crooked Brook Riparian Buffer: $21,985 was awarded to improve the water quality of Crooked Creek through the strategic planting of native species and the treatment and removal of invasive plant species.