Physical Characteristics and Land Uses of the Avon River Drainage ...

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Enquiries with respect to this report should be directed to the authors or to:Upper Thames River Conservation AuthorityP.O. Box 6278, Station 'D'London, OntarioN5W 5S1(519) 451-2800ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis report has been compiled and updated by D. Hayman and M. Fortin. Backgroundinformation on agricultural practices was prepared by W. Caldwell and S. Carroll. A.Graham, G. Knight and P. Fish provided valuable assistance in various stages of reportpreparation. D. Cavender exhibited patience and capable effort in the typing of themanuscript.ii
ABSTRACTThe Avon River Drainage Basin, part of the North Thames Basin, occupies 165 km 2 (64mi 2 ). Eight percent of its area is occupied by the City of Stratford, while agriculturalactivities take up 82% of the land area. The total population of the basin was about 27,000in 1980.Most of the basin straddles the Stratford Till Plain but its eastern extremeties extend intoa moraine area. Productive silt-loam soils have developed from the parent materials -sandy silt till and lacustrine clays and silts. Sands and gravels occur in the moraine areaand along the river valley.The majority of area farms are livestock operations particularly beef or dairy cattle.Therefore, crop rotations with forage are most common. Continuous row crops are,however, an important cropping pattern in the basin, one with significant erosion andwater quality implications. While manure application rates seem to be acceptable, winterapplications are practiced by up to one quarter of the livestock operators. This could posea threat to water quality. The quality of manure storage facilities vary from farm to farmand is closely related to the size of the livestock operation.iii
Page 1: STRATFORD-AVON RIVER ENVIRONMENTALM
Page 6 and 7: TABLE OF CONTENTSPage1. Introductio
Page 9: I. INTRODUCTIONThe Avon River is a
Page 12 and 13: 2. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICSThe lowe
Page 14 and 15: associated with a former glacial sp
Page 16 and 17: TABLE 2:Acreages Of Soil Capability
Page 18 and 19: TABLE 3:Drainage Statistics For The
Page 20 and 21: 5. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES *The chan
Page 22 and 23: 5.1 Farm Operations By TypeThe majo
Page 24 and 25: TABLE 4:FARM ENTERPRISES BY TYPEUPP
Page 27 and 28: TABLE 7: Rural Land Use and Croppin
Page 29 and 30: The use of fertilizers is another a
Page 31 and 32: Figure 7:Manure Application Rates23
Page 33 and 34: In the case of the maximum rate, nu
Page 35 and 36: deposits. The nature of the soils d
Page 37 and 38: Figure 10: Livestock Barns Near Maj
Page 39 and 40: REFERENCESCaldwell, W., and S. Carr

Physical Characteristics and Land Uses of the Avon River Drainage ...

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