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#Post#: 2744--------------------------------------------------
NYPA's strategy for Erie Canal Embankment Maintenance - Hungry
Goats & Robotic Dogs
DIR By: Doug K
Date: March 18, 2026, 5:34 pm
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When the New York Power Authority took control of the New York
State Canal system, after too many years of "neglect" under the
NYS Thruway Authority, they were crystal clear on the direction
they would take regarding the Erie Canal Waterway. Their number
one plan was simple, follow the guidance of the NYS Comptroller
2015 Canal Safety Report and find, then repair all Canal system
deficiencies. Much of the waterway had not been properly
inspected in almost 100 years, there were hundreds of known
leaks to find and fix, as well as setting the action plan to
address a decaying Canal Infrastructure.
It wasn't rocket science to understand that a canal system
reaching its 100th birthday would be in dire need of
refurbishment.
NYPA created a plan, developed a Canal Maintenance Guidebook and
started on the task of clearing miles of overgrown & unsafe
earthen embankments that make up over 1/3 of the overall Canal
length. Their plan was to start at the western end, which as
deemed "most unsafe" to the neighbors along the waterway and
work eastward towards the riverized Canal section in the Finger
Lakes.
The public wasn't amused... to say the least.
In fact a growing opposition formed on a local social media
group, and before long a bunch of "pseudo-environmentalist" had
shutdown ALL of NYPA's plans for repairing an unsafe waterway.
Led by a group leader claiming claiming that the Erie canal was
actually a "natural waterway" the group effectively shut down
all canal maintenance for overgrown embankments with a civil
lawsuit based on flimsy environmental concerns that NYPA had to
address through a new State Environmental Quality Review, also
known as a SEQR Report.
They completed that new SEQR, which found in favor of NYPA's
viewpoint that the NYS canal system had indeed become unsafe and
in need of repair, in 2021, but were still reluctant to start
repair work by clearing those miles of overgrown & unsafe
earthen slopes. Whether it was out of fear of more public
backlash, or simply bowing to public ridcule from a few
"Facebook Fools", the New York Power Authority retreated, with
it's tail between it's legs... or did they?
Sometime in 2024, NYPA got the brilliant idea to clear the
overgrowth along its waterway using a method that the public
wouldn't object to. Instead of wholesale clearing all
vegetation, from large trees that threatened the integrity of
the embankments to the smaller invasive growth like Japanese
Knotweed & Poison Ivy, they decided to "divide and conquer".
They abandoned the boots on the ground approach, with noisy
chainsaws & large excavators, in favor of the small hoofs of a
"weed munching goat army". It was covered by local Rochester
news outletsand guess what... no one protested... no Facebook
crazies calling NYPA out for destroying the environment, no
people threatening to chain themselves to trees.
[attachimg=1]
NYPA won... and nobody noticed or objected. And it appears that
their rent-a-goat army loves Knotweed & Poison Ivy the most.
HTML https://www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2025-07-02/goats-take-on-poison-ivy-and-help-protect-the-erie-canal
The outcome is the same, the miles and miles of Earthen
Embankments will be cleared well enough for State Dam
inspections to occur, which will reveal all of the embankment
deficiencies including where large trees have weakened or
damaged these water impounding structures. Those long overdue
dam inspections, yes folks Canal embankments are actually linear
navigation dams, will reveal what all professional Dam Engineers
have always stated... Trees do not belong on Earthen Dams.
So once the goats are full & happy, and embankments become
inspectable, the chainsaws will startup, with an army of workers
& heavy equipment to finish the job that NYPA intended intended
in the first place, make the NYS canal system safe again, for
neighbors along the waterway, boatersusing the waterway, and
even for those Facebook canal trail walkers who will regret
"liking" that NY Canal Corporation Facebook post about goats
along the Erie Canal.
Having learned a valuable lesson, and to avoid having their
Canal employees hassled every time they tried to inspect other
canal infrastructure, NYPA has now teamed up with the university
of Buffalo and hired a Robotic dog named Yubie to perform canal
culvert inspections. i'm pretty sure that those same Facebook
folks who liked the goats will "flip" over Yubie, especially if
NYPA has asked Buffalo University students to add a "dancing dog
routine" just in case it's needed.
[attachimg=2]
HTML https://www.buffalo.edu/news/news-releases.host.html/content/shared/university/news/ub-reporter-articles/stories/2025/10/yubie-canal-culvert.detail.html
Who knows, maybe one day we will see a herd of giraffes & an
army of hungry beavers or woodchucks taking trees away from the
top down, you never know.
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