An Exceptionally Wet July in the Watershed听

July 2023 was one of the wettest Julys on record in the Upper Thames River watershed. It proved challenging for Water Information Management staff to control flows and manage reservoir levels at and below the three flood control reservoirs at Pittock (Woodstock), Wildwood (St. Marys), and Fanshawe (London) Conservation Areas. 听听

Staff estimate that the North Thames River above the Forks watershed (including Mitchell, Stratford, St. Marys, and part of London) received 195 mm of rain in July. The Thames River above the Forks watershed (including Woodstock, Thamesford, Ingersoll, and part of London) received 142 mm, and the Thames River below the Forks watershed (Forks to Delaware) received 181 mm. We would expect this type of rain event to occur every 75 years, or about a 1.3% chance any given July.Since 1950, the most rain ever measured at the London Airport was 204 mm in 1992. The 30 year "normal" for July precipitation at the London Airport is 82.7 mm as published by Environment and Climate Change Canada.听

Fortunately, the rain was fairly spread out through the month, with no major flooding occurring. However, the elevated water levels at reservoirs interrupted recreational activities. At Fanshawe Reservoir, there are also campsites in lower parts of Fanshawe Conservation Area that can become flooded if the reservoir is needed to reduce flooding downstream. This requires staff to temporarily move several camping trailers. An added challenge this July was keeping Harris Park in London dry for the annual Rock the Park festival, which is one of the first locations in the UTRCA watershed to flood during wetter months. At Wildwood reservoir, water levels were held up to 0.9 m above what is considered normal for the end of July, which is appreciated by recreational users but can pose other challenges including managing the floating dock system on the reservoir and meeting downstream flow constraints. 听听

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Looking East at Harris Park toward Rock the Park setuup on Friday, July 14th afternoon.

Mark Your Calendars for Tree Power! 听

Residents of Perth South and St. Marys are encouraged to mark their calendars for upcoming Tree Power programs. The 糖心直播 (UTRCA) has partnered with both municipalities to once again offer affordable trees to residents. 听

Tree species that will be available include:听

• Autumn Fantasy Maple听
• Downy Serviceberry听
• Native Red Maple听
• Red Oak听
• Sugar Maple听
• Tulip Tree听听

Tree sales for Perth South open on Tuesday, September 5 at 10 am

Tree sales for St. Marys open on Tuesday, September 12 at 10 am 听

UTRCA Library Park Pass Program Grows in Popularity听

鈥淥ur community loves being able to borrow a free UTRCA Day Pass from their library. Demand for the passes continues to grow, with Londoners eager to explore these natural resources. It鈥檚 a great partnership for London Public Library,鈥� shared Sarah Kasprzak, Integrated Library System Solutions Specialist with the London Public Library.

Beginning in 2019, the UTRCA partnered with libraries in the watershed to offer park passes to library patrons. Using their library card, patrons can 鈥渃heck out鈥� a day pass to gain access to Fanshawe, Pittock, and Wildwood Conservation Areas.听 听

Participating libraries include:听听

• Central London Public Library听听
• Childreach Lending Library London听听
• North Perth Public Library听听
• Oxford County Library听听
• Perth East Public Library听听
• St Marys Library听听
• Stratford Library听听
• West Perth Public Library听

Some branches have a waiting list for the passes, indicating that the desire amongst patrons to get outside and enjoy our natural areas continues to grow.听

From a library patron鈥檚 perspective, Anita Holden shared, 鈥�I have recently borrowed the Upper Thames Park Pass and I have to say I was thrilled with this opportunity! What a great service the OCL has provided for patrons! The pass has given us a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, exploring three beautiful parks and all they have to offer – without cost to us or having to travel far. We have enjoyed this so much and hope the passes will continue to be available to us, and other patrons in the future. Thank you for these great opportunities!鈥�听

UTRCA Tackles Dog-Strangling Vine, Japanese Knotweed, and Giant Hogweed with Support from the
Invasive Species Action Fund

The 糖心直播 (UTRCA) has been tackling three invasive plants thanks to a $10,000 contribution from the .

Dog Strangling Vine, Japanese Knotweed, and Giant Hogweed grow throughout the watershed, but are a threat to native biodiversity and a hazard to the community.

Dog Strangling Vine is an extremely aggressive plant that outcompetes native vegetation, creating a monoculture unsuitable for most wildlife. Japanese Knotweed can break through concrete and foundations, create visual barriers along roadsides, and inhibit the growth of native vegetation. Giant Hogweed is an extremely tall that is highly toxic to humans who may encounter the plant in flood plains and along riverside trails.

鈥淭he cost to manage these three invasive species is staggering,鈥� said Brandon Williamson, Land Management Coordinator with the UTRCA. 鈥淭he longer we wait to implement control measures, the greater the impact will be economically and on the environment. That is why the Invasive Species Action Fund has been so important.鈥�

Control measures include removing seeds by hand and applying herbicide directly onto leaves and into stems. Drone technology will also be used to map and inventory Giant Hogweed along the Thames River.

The UTRCA has worked with municipalities and other partners to manage more than 20 different invasive species.

鈥淚t is important to keep up our efforts to manage these species to maintain biodiversity, protect people from injury, and prevent infrastructure damage and reduced property values,鈥� said Williamson. 鈥淲e encourage community members to inform UTRCA staff of the locations of these invasive species as we build the data set of their distribution across the watershed.鈥� Smart phone applications such as iNaturalist and EDDMaps can help identify and log the location of invasive species.

UTRCA Lands Team

Dog Strangling Vine

Photo album: , August 16 2023

Contact

Brandon Williamson
Land Management Coordinator, 糖心直播
williamsonb@thamesriver.on.ca听
519-451-2800 ext. 296

A Wet and Busy Summer for Integrated Watershed Management Staff听

The rain has certainly been keeping UTRCA stewardship field staff busy this summer as they perform routine water quality sampling for each major rain event that moves through the watershed. As rain falls and water levels rise, the concentration of nutrients flowing through watercourses, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, fluctuate with the addition of runoff from various sources, including agricultural fields and tile drainage. 听

From a stewardship perspective, it is important to understand the impacts of runoff at the field scale to surface water quality as a whole. During each rain event, water samples are collected and later sent to a lab for chemical testing. By taking several samples and monitoring water levels during an event, staff can better understand nutrient loading throughout these rain events.

This knowledge helps to inform stewardship staff in their efforts to encourage and support the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to improve overall watershed health. At our recent Clean Water Program meeting, over 40 BMP projects were approved across the watershed. 听

A look back at the 2022 field season helps put this season鈥檚 monitoring efforts into perspective. Last summer, staff collected data during five events from June through August, with approximately 60 water samples collected in that period. The dry conditions left sampling sites with flows either very low or non-existent.

In comparison, from June to mid-August of this year, 12 events have been captured with roughly 145 samples collected so far. The rain this summer has allowed for the collection of more than twice the number of data points as last year with even more rain听in the forecast.听

Additionally, efforts have been made this summer to establish a new monitoring site at the UTRCA-owned Thorndale Demonstration Farm. At the beginning of June, staff installed equipment at the Demo Farm where they will monitor tile drainage outlets from two halves of the field, each with different drainage types, including contoured controlled drainage and conventional drainage. This exciting project has been undertaken to better understand the differences between these farming practices and their respective impacts on storm water retention and water quality.听

Staff look forward to continuing the field season, especially with the new monitoring project underway. It has been a busy but worthwhile summer for data collection!听

Perth South Township Office Low Impact Development project

The 糖心直播 (UTRCA) partnered with the Township of Perth South to implement a Low Impact Development (LID) project at the Township鈥檚 Office. The LID was designed to address the recurring flooding of the parking lot, septic bed, and sidewalk caused by stormwater runoff.

The project included a 93 square metre rain garden and a 35 metre-long bioswale to capture the stormwater from the parking lot and the workshop building.

Grade four and five students from Downie Central Public School assisted in planting 900 native wildflowers in the rain garden and bioswale to create habitat for a variety of pollinators. The project will also include signage to explain the function of the rain garden and bioswale and the benefits of using LIDs as a natural and effective solution to stormwater control.

Funding for this project was provided by the Government of Ontario.

Educational (and Fun!) Programming in the Conservation Areas听

Did you know that each of the three UTRCA Conservation Areas (CAs) provide educational programming and events for kids and adults throughout the summer? Did you also know that we bring in outside organizations as well as our very own community education staff to hold events?听

Already this year, we have had the pleasure of welcoming several organizations including: Sciensational Sssnakes, Wild Ontario, Scales Nature Park, Canadian Raptor Conservancy, and Speaking of Wildlife. Each one has brought their own unique animals, ranging from snakes and turtles to birds of prey and other small animals who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to be rehabilitated and released. 听

Mowat from Wild Ontario at Wildwood Conservation Area

All of the organizations share a message of conservation, highlighting ways that the public can help protect these species. Some of them even provide an opportunity for a hands-on portion!听

Community education staff have also carried out some very engaging programming including: Bug Safaris, Story Walks and Owl Prowls, where they take groups into the forest to hear the calls of owls.听

All of our events have been well attended, with some of our bigger events having well over 100 people in attendance, allowing more and more people to “Step Into Nature”!听

Bug Safari at Fanshawe Conservation Area

Find event information on our CA websites:听

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