How SYRCL protects the South Yuba River

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”
—Gary Snyder

NOBODY SAID IT BETTER, AND NOBODY KNOWS BETTER than this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, whose home is the South Yuba River watershed.

But some people don’t treat it like home. Despite its awesome beauty, the South Yuba has been threatened by dams and development, logging, mining, garbage, even dog droppings. It’s endless.

For more than 30 years, the South Yuba River Citizens League has been working to protect the river. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is just one element, albeit the best known one.

SYRCL has legions of volunteers who help preserve the river, which draws an estimated 450,000 visitors annually. Its board comes from all walks of life—a doctor, a Stanford Ph.D. and the Del Oro Theater’s owner, among others.

SYRCL’s executive director grew up in the Yuba River watershed—in Synder’s neighborhood, in fact. “Our mission is to empower our members to make a difference,” says Caleb Dardick, referring to the theme of this year’s Film Festival.

SOME OF THE PROGRAMS
River Ambassadors
SYRCL developed this program to deal with trash, glass, dog waste and the risk of wildfire in the river canyon. The idea is to create a “culture of stewardship,” utilizing one-on-one conversations, Dardick says.

Restoration Work
The goal is to improve conditions so that salmon and other wildlife thrive. This has included replant- ing the banks of the lower Yuba with 7,000 cottonwoods and willows.

River Cleanup
In the past 16 years, SYRCL volunteers have removed more than 150,000 pounds of garbage from the South Yuba watershed. It has grown to more than 600 volunteers.

For more information, visit YubaRiver.org.

RIVER COLLABORATION
In January, we predicted 2013 would be the year of “collaboration.” It’s largely been true, and few have done a better job of collaborating than SYRCL.

As you might expect, the environmental group has run into policy disagreements with mining, logging and dam proponents over the years.

But SYRCL also has worked to find common ground. Witness its unifying role in the campaign to save the South Yuba River State Park and Malakoff Diggins State Park from closing. SYRCL’s effort to cleanup the Yuba River has won widespread praise.

For us, it’s heartening that SYRCL’s passion for the Yuba River watershed is uniting our community and serving as a role model for others.

(photo: DavidMcKayPhotography.com)

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