Niagara Falls park to clean up appearance

NIAGARA FALLS -- The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has announced a three-part plan to provide a better experience for the millions of annual visitors to the Niagara Falls State Park.

State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey outlined the strategy after a recent New York Times travel article sharply criticized the overall condition of the nation's oldest state park.

"The facilities at the Niagara park need to match the expectations of 8 million visitors coming from around the globe each year to see the iconic falls," Harvey said.

The commissioner said she has directed the staff to work on improving the appearance of the park, from immediate steps to deal with wear-and-tear issues that arise from heavy usage to long-term planning to prioritize the park's capital needs.

Under the improvement plans listed, extra park crews have been dispatched to complete the spring cleanup of the park that had been delayed by the wet and rainy spring weather.

To date, she said, crews have been making progress maintaining walking paths and trails, re-sodding damaged lawn areas, planting flowers and landscaping, trimming trees and repairing ice damage from this year's unusually severe winter.

Harvey also said the parks agency will advance $3 million in capital projects to update aging facilities at the state park's most heavily used areas, including Goat Island, Luna Island, Three Sisters Islands, the Cave of the Winds and the Niagara Gorge Trail System.

The projects are funded through a combination of New York State Parks Department, Niagara Greenway funds and other agency funding sources.

State Sen. George D. Maziarz (R-Newfane) and Assemb. John Ceretto (R-Lewiston) will meet with Harvey in Albany to further discuss the needs at the Falls park.