2024 Camping Season is Underway!  On May 1, 2024 Fanshawe, Pittock and Wildwood Conservation Areas (CAs) opened for overnight and seasonal camping! These three beautiful parks offer many wonderful outdoor recreational opportunities. Fanshawe CA, located just outside of London, offers 511 campsites and 30 km of hiking and biking trails. In Woodstock, Pittock CA offers 248 campsites and a nationally rated 18-hole disc golf course. Finally, Wildwood CA is located outside of St. Marys with 387 campsites including four back country sites. The camping season runs until October 20.  “There is always a great sense of excitement for opening [...]

Stewardship Staff and Local Farmers Establish Field Trials and Demonstration Sites for Best Management Practices Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Stewardship Services have wrapped up projects for the most recent funding cycle of the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (COA). Supported by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), this two-year funding agreement aimed to further our understanding of the effects of various agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on rural water quality and ecosystem health in the Upper Thames River watershed. This was just the latest of several COA agreements [...]

105 Trees Planted for Arbor Week Thamesford: Lions Park Riparian Buffer Zone Planting  On April 22nd, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) supported a planting of 55 native trees and shrubs in Lions River Park with the Thamesford Lions and the Kintore-Thamesford Scouts. Tree species planted included Swamp White Oak, Burr Oak, Tulip, and Basswood, and shrubs included Elderberry, Nannyberry, Ninebark, and Red Osier Dogwood.  The plantings were made possible through an Enbridge Fueling Futures Grant and an Oxford Community Fund Stevens Fund Grant. The plantings are part of an ongoing partnership with the Thamesford Lions to create [...]

That’s a Wrap for the 2024 City Nature Challenge  The second annual City Nature Challenge has ended, and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) was thrilled to once again be partners! Over the four days of the challenge, Londoners made 4,135 observations of species in London using iNaturalist, resulting in 3rd place in Ontario and 9th in Canada – way to go London!  To help Londoners learn how to use iNaturalist, take good photos, and encourage participation in the challenge, the UTRCA hosted a “How to use iNaturalist” webinar. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the [...]

Gunn’s Hill LP Provides $20,000 for Hodge's Pond Trail Improvements in 2024 For the last nine years, the Cedar Creek Collaborative, made up of the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA), County of Oxford, Stewardship Oxford, and Oxford County Trails Council, has been working on Cedar Creek enhancements, wetland building, forestry projects, and trail building on the Hodge’s Pond Property south of Woodstock. The work has been supported by a variety of funding sources, federal and provincial agencies, corporate funds, and private donations. Constant through it all has been Gunn’s Hill Limited Partnership, a green energy partnership that operates the [...]

24 Years Since the Walkerton Tragedy 24 years ago, a severe bacterial contamination of municipal water in Walkerton, Ontario led to the worst public health crisis involving Canadian municipal water. The incident resulted in the deaths of seven people and caused illness in over 2,300 individuals. The Government of Ontario initiated a public inquiry into the tragic incident the following month. Conservation Ontario provided recommendations to the Walkerton inquiry with a focus on improvements that included watershed management to protect drinking water supply.   In response to the Walkerton inquiry, Justice O'Connor issued 121 recommendations covering various aspects of [...]

UTRCA lends a hand at Children’s Water Festival  Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff helped out at the St Thomas Elgin Children's Water Festival which was held on May 14 through 17 at Pinafore Park in St Thomas. Approximately 3,200 students in grades 2 through 5 visited the festival to learn about water in their communities, water conservation and water science.   The Perth Children’s Water Festival will be held on Sunday, May 26th, 2024 from 1:00 PM – 4:00PM in Memorial Park in Listowel. In 2025, the festival will be held in May at Pittock Conservation Area in Woodstock. [...]

Celebrate the Medway Community Event  You are invited to a free community event taking place on Saturday, June 8th from 10 am – 2 pm at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology located at 1600 Attawandaron Road in London!  This event is geared towards all ages and is completely free to attend! Activities will include:   Free admission to the Museum of Ontario Archaeology  Community pollinator garden planting   Litter clean-up  Birds of Prey shows  Drumming circle  Community art activity  Guided hikes through the Medway Valley Heritage Forest  Benthic invertebrate tank (learn more about aquatic Species at Risk in the Medway!)  Insect exploration [...]

UTRCA at Go Wild Grow Wild event  After a five-year hiatus, the Go Wild Grow Wild Green Expo was held on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at the Agriplex in London, and Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) staff participated as exhibitors.   The event was hosted by Carolinian Canada who refers to the expo as “the largest, wildest, greenest, most adventurous event series in Ontario's far South.” They unveiled their new name and branding for the show, Hope in the Land Expo, along with a new logo created by Indigenous artist Nyle Miigizi Johnston.  Visitors to the UTRCA booth learned [...]

60th Anniversary of the Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network June 10th, 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP)’s Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network (PWQMN). The PWQMN measures water quality in rivers and streams across Ontario to track changes in water quality over time. Since 1964, Ontario’s Conservation Authorities, including the Upper Thames Conservation Authority (UTRCA), have worked collaboratively with PWQMN partners to collect monthly water samples at over 400 locations across Ontario. In the Upper Thames River watershed, there are 24 active water quality stations that are sampled from March through [...]