2025 Water Quality Monitoring Summary
2025 Water Quality Monitoring Summary The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) assesses water quality through surface water and groundwater monitoring programs. These programs test multiple parameters at sites throughout the watershed, providing a good overview of long-term data and trends in water quality.
UTRCA Tree Planting on Private Lands Program
UTRCA Tree Planting on Private Lands Program Visit the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) website to order your large stock trees and seedlings to plant next spring. We have a wide variety of coniferous and deciduous trees and wildlife shrubs available. Trees ordered through this program can be planted by the landowner or through our full planting service (if minimum order requirements are met). Planting projects include: windbreaks, retiring highly erodible land, treed buffer strips along watercourses, creating wildlife habitat, and more. The deadline to order is February 27, 2026. Please note that this program is open to landowners with a minimum of [...]
Phosphorus in our Watershed
Phosphorus in our Watershed This January, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA), with support from the Canada Water Agency, launched "Phosphorus in our Watershed," a specialized educational initiative for local Grade 9 Science students. In this three-part program, UTRCA Community Education staff reached nearly 100 students across four classes in the northern part of our watershed at Stratford District Secondary School and St. Michael Catholic Secondary School. Phosphorus in our Watershed invites high school students to examine how agricultural phosphorus fertilizers run off into local waterways and result in harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie. The program [...]
Christmas and Winter for the Animals
Christmas and Winter for the Animals In December and January, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Education staff were delighted to host over 600 Kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2 students for our Christmas for the Animals and Winter for the Animals programs at Fanshawe Conservation Area. The wintery weather certainly cooperated with us, leaving a snowy landscape for the students to explore and enjoy! Students made lasting memories of meeting new forest friends during a puppet show, who shared with the students their winter survival strategies. Then there is a read aloud story time and, depending on the program selection, [...]
Do You Have Invasive Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed, or Phragmites on Your Property?
Do You Have Invasive Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed, or Phragmites on Your Property? The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Invasive Species Collaborative Program Opportunity The UTRCA is developing a funding initiative to address the growing concern of three invasive plants: Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), and Phragmites (Phragmites australis). As part of this initiative, we are reaching out to landowners whose property may be affected by or could have a role in the control and long-term management of these highly invasive species, and is located along the Thames River. Giant Hogweed poses significant ecological and [...]
UTRCA Board Responds to Bill 68
UTRCA Board Responds to Bill 68 For the latest news, go to our webpage on the Proposed Consolidation of Conservation Authorities On November 7, 2025, the provincial government opened public consultation on an Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO #025-1257) proposal to consolidate Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into 7 large regional authorities. Under this proposal, a new Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority would be created by merging eight existing conservation authorities — Catfish Creek, Essex Region, Grand River, Kettle Creek, Long Point Region, Lower Thames Valley, St. Clair Region, and Upper Thames River. This new regional conservation authority would span a large geographic [...]
2025 Field Surveying Season Concludes
2025 Field Surveying Season Concludes The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority's (UTRCA) 2025 field surveying season has come to an end as the snowy weather settles in. Beginning in early June, the team of surveyors used a high-accuracy Global Positioning System (GPS) to gather over 18,000 point elevations for the flood modelling team to use in building flood models. Over 1,000 cross sections were collected from bank to bank to better understand the shape, size, and depth of creeks and drains across the watershed. The surveyors also compiled data for 430 bridges and culverts to determine how much water [...]
A Fantastic Fall for UTRCA Community Education
A Fantastic Fall for UTRCA Community Education As the seasons start to change, we like to look back at all that Community Education staff have accomplished this fall term. Since September, education staff have worked with over 2,000 students in the watershed. This includes a variety of programs hosted on-site at our conservation areas (CAs) and in schoolyards. One of the new programs we added this year includes Team Building, a new and exciting program for Grades 6 to 8, which aims to help students support each other and strengthen their connections to one another. Through team-building and leadership [...]
Returning the Kidneyshell Mussel to Medway Creek
Returning the Kidneyshell Mussel to Medway Creek Kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus fasciolaris) may not be a familiar name, but this small freshwater mussel has an inspiring story in the Thames River watershed. Once found across southwestern Ontario, Kidneyshell populations were hit hard by invasive species, pollution, and habitat degradation. By 2005, Canada listed Kidneyshell as Endangered. Today, reproducing populations remain in only two Canadian rivers: the Sydenham and the Ausable, which are both located next to the Thames River watershed. But hope is flowing back into Medway Creek, a tributary of the Upper Thames! A dedicated team from Fisheries and Oceans Canada [...]
Nature School PA Day Success!
Nature School PA Day Success! Kids had a great time at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA)’s latest Nature School Professional Activity (PA) Day! The UTRCA partnered with the Stratford Perth Museum once again to host a PA Day on Friday, November 21, at the museum. We brought together 16 enthusiastic participants for a full day of outdoor exploration, hands-on discovery, artmaking, and cultural learning. Campers engaged in orienteering, forest games, nature exploration, fire-making, and homesteading, making full use of both the museum’s indoor spaces and its beautiful forest and meadow trails. The day’s programming encouraged curiosity, teamwork, [...]