Specialized Tool Required to Measure Extreme Flows (UTRCA Weekly, January 28, 2022) In the Upper Medway Creek subwatershed, a late September 2021 rainfall event of 75 mm produced higher-than-normal stream flows for the time of year. UTRCA Conservation Services staff are monitoring the creek as part of a targeted subwatershed project that is studying the impacts of Best Management Practices, such as cover crops, on water quality. To calculate [...]

Winter Nature School at Fanshawe Conservation Area (UTRCA Weekly, January 21, 2022) Community Education staff are excited to once again offer their outdoor Nature School program at Fanshawe Conservation Area. This nature-based, outdoor education program was first offered in the fall of 2021 in response to the pandemic and it has returned thanks to its popularity. Fanshawe Nature School takes place in a beautiful forest where staff created different [...]

Learn outdoors this winter (UTRCA Weekly, January 14, 2021) Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff are busy preparing for the return of Nature School next week. Located at Wildwood Conservation Area, near St. Marys, Wildwood Nature School is offering two different outdoor education programs in January and February of 2022. Children aged 18 months to five years, along with an accompanying adult, can participate in “Falcons and Fledglings” [...]

2021 Year in Review (UTRCA Weekly, January 7, 2021) As we settle into the New Year, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) is reflecting on some of its achievements in 2021. Watershed residents continued to take enjoy the physical and mental health benefits offered by the outdoors, and we welcomed more than 160,000 visitors to Fanshawe, Pittock, and Wildwood Conservation Areas. While the camping season was closer to [...]

Protecting Conservation Area Infrastructure (UTRCA Weekly, December 24, 2021) Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff carried out a small project in mid-November to protect the Munro pedestrian bridge at Wildwood Conservation Area. Park staff had noticed that bank erosion had undercut adjacent trees and was impacting the bridge abutment, as can be seen in the photo below. To help stabilize the severely eroded and undercut stream bank, [...]

Climate Change challenges UTRCA Reforestation Efforts (UTRCA Weekly, December 17, 2021) While spring tree planting activities often get all the attention, summer and fall maintenance is just as important to ensure newly planted trees survive. Planting a seedling is just the start -- vegetation control over the next two to three years is critical to ensure planting success. With tree and planting costs on the rise, maintenance becomes that [...]