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Posted by: Doug K
« on: August 05, 2022, 04:24:24 pm »

And now it seems that trees are raining down like cats n dogs into the Erie Canal... this just out.

Channel Obstruction: Erie Canal Orleans County

Mariners are advised of a tree blocking the navigation channel just east of the Sweden Walker Rd. Bridge E-180 over the Erie Canal in Sweden. Maintenance crews have been notified and are on site. It is anticipated the tree will be removed in 2 to 3 hours.

Read it again here

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/tas/notices/ntm.aspx?id=1951

This TREE is blocking the entire channel, a channel that is 120' wide in the 60 mile pool.

This is in Monroe County, not Orleans County as stated in the NTM.

And to think, there are actually people on social media that do NOT want the Canal Corporation to fix this "tree issue", instead saying they prefer "shade" to public safety and canal viability. I guess they can float out into the channel on inner tubes to get shade from this tree, right?

https://ecna.createaforum.com/notices-from-the-canal-authority/erie-canal-ntm-review-for-2022-inspections!-repairs!-reduced-depths!/msg2300/?topicseen#msg2300
Posted by: Doug K
« on: August 05, 2022, 04:12:08 pm »

And as predicted, ANOTHER notice to mariners with the topic: Channel Obstruction

https://ecna.createaforum.com/notices-from-the-canal-authority/erie-canal-ntm-review-for-2022-inspections!-repairs!-reduced-depths!/

A good sized tree has fallen into the Erie Canal, over 60' tall in the Town of Ridgeway, that is blocking 40' of channelway.

So much for the thought that "trees aren't a problem" along Erie Canal Embankments.

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/tas/notices/ntm.aspx?id=1950

New slogan for the Canal Corporation... "shade is cool, until TREES fall into the "sixty mile pool"
Posted by: Doug K
« on: July 22, 2022, 01:11:31 pm »

It has not been a very good past three days for the Erie Canal or the NYS Canal Corporation.

It's another plague of Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) near Buffalo and yet another ANNUAL rash of "falling trees" that once again are finding their way into the navigation channel.

And we can expect somewhere between 10 & 15 more of these "obstruction or floating debris notices, before November, when the  Canal Embankment "tree clearing" SEASON can officially start.

That embankment clearing effort should help to whittle the issue of dead trees and tree roots down to size, That is what is making for hazardous conditions inside & outside of the canalway, trees that haven't been properly managed for the location they have chosen to grow on the past 100 years.



So when someone tells you that trees "belong" on the Erie Canal and all along it's earthen embankment dams, remember this...

That statement is NOT true according to the people who maintain it. Both NY Power and NY Canals have been crystal clear that trees are a MAJOR safety issue right now along the Erie Canal. And it's NOT true according to NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation who writes the rules for Dams & Dam Safety in NY, like those along the Erie. Also NOT true by the US Army Engineers or FEMA standards, who write and maintain the Rules & Guidelines about Dams, Dam Vegetation, and Dam Safety at the Federal level.

The facts are simple: 49 of 50 States in our Country use some form of Dam Safety guidance set by either their own State level DEC or they defer to FEMA or the USACE for Dam Safety manuals or guides. All of those Dam Safety rules say the same thing, trees are not allowed to grow on earthen dams as it compromises the water impounding capability of the dam itself.

But there is one place you can go where people are denying these facts - Facebook of course.
Posted by: Michael Caswell
« on: July 21, 2022, 06:51:15 pm »

Notice to Mariners

Champlain Canal – Schuylerville

July 21, 2022

Mariners are advised of a report of a tree in the Canal in the vicinity of the Schuylerville Boat Ramp. This area is below Champlain Canal Lock C-5 in Schuylerville. Canal maintenance forces have been notified.

Boaters should proceed with caution through this area.

A chart covering the affected area can be found at https://www.canals.ny.gov/navinfo/charts/14786c05l.png

Features along the eastern portion of the Erie Canal are listed by mileage at https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/navinfo/navinfo.aspx?waterway=champlain

In case of emergencies, please call the Canal Corporation Emergency Call Center at: (833) 538-1042.

The Canal Corporation urges all users to register to receive updates through the "Notice to Mariners" notification program at www.canals.ny.gov.

For updates and information, please visit Canals.NY.gov or follow us on Facebook or Twitter
Posted by: Doug K
« on: July 14, 2022, 01:06:16 pm »

As stated earlier, there is yet another Embankment issue, this time a bit more serious at a major small stream culvert, with lots of canal water overhead, that is now leaking into the Jeddo Creek basin below. This embankment is about a 20' tall water impoundment on the downstream side.

Must have been why the Erie waterline dropped 8 inches last week in the "60 mile pool" west of Rochester.

Here's the Headline of the repair from the NYSCC Press Release page:

New York State Canal Corporation announces seepage Mitigation project along the Erie Canal in the Town of Shelby to begin week of July 18th

http://www.canals.ny.gov/news/pressrel/2022/2022.07.14-Erie-Canal-Seep-Mitigation-Shelby-Press-Release.pdf

And the ECNA has been out to this location right after the NYS Canal Corporation cleared their very first Earthen Canal Dam in their fledgling Embankment Integrity Program. We have captured this in the "before state". We have included a map below to show the area. This embankment leak is at the Jeddo Creek culvert, located underneath Dam #1.

It was cleared as part of the original Erie Embankment Restoration Project.

The images below were from an earlier ECNA post that looked at the Erie Embankment Dams that have currently been cleared in 2018. 

The NEW repair work is being done on the embankment slope, on the South side of the waterway & Erie Trail, at the other end of the culvert shown in the picture below. From the NYCC Press Release it appears they will dewatering this section perhaps and then fill the leak, hoping to rebound the impervious layer needed on water impounding  embankments. There are many types of grout now, that get activated as the wet. Here's a little info on one product called "Dammit"

https://ecna.createaforum.com/links-to-documents/if-your-earthen-canal-embankment-is-leaking-like-a-sieve-maybe-it's-time-to-dami/



You can read more about this Embankment Dam at the end of Fruit Avenue in Medina, and other cleared Erie embankments, located at this western end of the Erie, in this ECNA post:

https://ecna.createaforum.com/erie-canal-embankment-integrity-program-(eip)/is-the-canal-corporation-lying-about-embankment-integrity/?message=887


Read more about this canal embankment leak in the Orleans Hub

https://orleanshub.com/canal-corp-will-work-to-mitigate-seepage-next-week-in-shelby-near-jeddo-creek/
Posted by: Doug K
« on: July 13, 2022, 12:46:03 pm »

It seems about this time of year the Erie Canal Notice to Mariners (NTMs) starts to see a large upswing in reported TREES floating in the waterway. Maybe due to increased traffic by boat and kayak, we normally see a dozen or more NTM reports annually, for " floating debris & TREES in the channel", like this one.


https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/tas/notices/index.aspx



In addition look for a new Canal Corporation Press Release regarding yet ANOTHER Erie Canal Embankment REPAIR that is needed, out in the Medina area, just west of the City. It's located in an area with a high concentration of Earthen Dams along the Erie Canal there.

This latest embankment repair will be the fourth Press Release this year about seeping earthen embankments, since March, when the Canal Corporation announced it would be performing routine inspections along the waterway. They have also made 3 major repairs to embankments/seeps in other locations east of Rochester.


https://www.canals.ny.gov/news/pressrel/index.html


Just an FYI, there were no serious embankment seeps reported in the area west of Medina, when the Canal Corporation launched it's new Canal Integrity website and posted the data on Erie Canal Embankment Locations & Seeps. Using their interactive mapping tools we can see this is a  new LEAK being repaired, that must have grown worse over time, and now has reached the point where it must be repaired.

What did the NYS Canal Corporation say again? "We can't inspect the embankment dams if we can't see them. "So they have cleared 25 miles of them and the inspection has revealed over 200 MORE LEAKS!

Make the 201...


https://www.nyscanalintegrity.org/program-and-maps

We are not sure of the exact location of this embankment work, but expect that to be shared in an upcoming Press Release by NYS Canals & New York State Power very soon. We were told that this repair work will not affect Erie Canal Trail traffic at all, so it may be work on an embankment dam located on the South side of the waterway west of Medina.

We will share more information about this embankment seep repair as it becomes available to us