Creating a Buzz with New Pollinator Factsheets To meet the growing interest in, and concern about, our native insect pollinators, UTRCA staff have produced two colourful factsheets and a pull-up display. The first factsheet, Introducing Native Insect Pollinators, explains why these insects are essential to natural and agricultural ecosystems, the types of insects that do most of the pollinating, and how insects pollinate flowers. There is also information on [...]

Stratford All-Wheels Park LID Project  The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) partnered with the City of Stratford to implement an All-Wheels Park Low Impact Development (LID) Project to address an existing drainage issue in the city’s skate park. After a rainfall, sections of the park as well as the all-wheels ramps would be inaccessible due to the standing water caused by the rain. To address this, the LID project [...]

Improvements to Kains Woods ESA   In May, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff constructed a new boardwalk in Kains Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) off Shore Road in London. This was to reroute the existing managed trail around severe erosion that was causing the existing boardwalk to collapse.  Staff had been monitoring the erosion for several years and, without the ability to bring in heavy machinery to restore [...]

Rollout of the 2022 Watershed Report Cards   With the completion of the 2022 Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Watershed Report Cards in March, 2023, staff have been spreading the word far and wide about the findings.  The launch began with a media release, with good uptake from local newspapers, radio stations and other platforms.  Staff also conducted an interview on Rogers Cable’s show “What’s up Oxford.”  Print copies [...]

UTRCA hosts London-Middlesex Children’s Water Festival  This May, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) hosted the London-Middlesex Children’s Water Festival. Over the four days of the festival, students in grades two through five came to Fanshawe Conservation Area for a fun and educational field trip to learn about the importance of water in their daily lives.   This year, we had record registration, with requests for over 11,000 students to [...]

Learning in and with Nature  How incredible to think that Fanshawe and Wildwood Education staff have been offering Nature School at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) for three years now! The Nature School programs provide opportunities for participants to spend time in and with nature using the principles of Forest and Nature School. These principles, shared by staff that are trained Forest and Nature School Practitioners, focus on providing repeated outdoor [...]

UTRCA hosts Perth Children’s Water Festival  The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Perth Children’s Water Festival provides a hands-on learning environment for families from Perth County to discover the importance of water in their lives and communities. It is a fun and educational event that focuses on learning about water based on five themes: Conservation, Protection, Science, Technology and Attitude.   After a successful inaugural Perth Children’s Water [...]

Rotary Club of St. Marys Tours Wildwood Dam  On May 15th, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff hosted members of the Rotary Club of St. Marys for a tour of Wildwood Dam. Members were very impressed with the size of the structure, its function and the maintenance required to keep it operational. Many remembered the area before the dam was built and knew former landowners.  [...]

Collecting Climate Data to Predict Water Level Conditions The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority's (UTRCA) Water Information Management unit monitors many sources of climate and hydrometric (standardized water quantity and information) data in order to predict future water level conditions, including water levels, estimated discharge rates, rainfall rates and cumulative totals, snow depth and water equivalents (the amount of water required to consume the same amount of heat as [...]

Spring Tree Planting Season for 2023  The UTRCA forestry crew had another busy but successful tree planting season with 37, 544 trees planted and distributed. About 55 landowners took advantage of the UTRCA planting services to create windbreaks, buffers along water courses, and forests in the watershed. In addition to the crew’s efforts, another 150 landowners planted on their own to increase and restore natural ecosystems on their property. The weather [...]