Rotary Club of Stratford Aims to Increase Tree Canopy Along Avon Trail  The City of Stratford is getting greener thanks to members of the Rotary Club of Stratford' Environment Committee. Members of the committee planted nine Black Cherry trees along a Stratford portion of the Avon Trail where a number of mature trees had been destroyed by beavers. The Avon Trail is a 130 km hiking trail from St. [...]

UTRCA Leads Primary Outreach Program to Embrace the Outdoors Over the winter, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) education staff collaborated with three schools from the London District Catholic School Board to provide a Kindergarten Primary Outreach Program. These programs are designed to show teachers how their outdoor space could be used to teach math, language and science. As part of the program, UTRCA staff also created outdoor learning [...]

ONFARM Program Continues Through 2028  The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) is supporting the second phase of the On-Farm Applied Research and Monitoring (ONFARM) program. As part of this initiative, the UTRCA is collecting year-round water samples to understand the effects of Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) on water quality. The water quality component of the ONFARM program specifically examines cover cropping, controlled drainage, fertilizer application, and/or tillage impacts [...]

2,000 People Attend EarthFest in 2024  On April 20, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) participated in London’s third annual EarthFest celebration. Located at the London Public Library Centre Branch and Citi Plaza, the festival welcomed over 2,000 attendees! Visitors were able to wander through the interactive displays put together by the over 80 exhibitors and artists that showcased local approaches to sustainability, ecological justice, and the protection [...]

1,700 Acres of Cover Crops Planted This Past fall The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) allocated funding for 1,700 acres of cover crops planted across the watershed this past fall. This funding assistance targeted fields with either winter-killed cover crops like oats or overwintering varieties such as cereal rye. These initiatives are geared towards increasing cover crop adoption as well as enhancing existing funding opportunities for producers in the [...]