- Past SYRCL President Roger Hicks
On October 10, 1999, Governor Gray Davis signed legislation to add a 39-mile stretch of the South Yuba River to California's Wild and Scenic River System. This ended a 16-year grassroots campaign led by the South Yuba River Citizens League to stop new dams on the river. Senate Bill 496, authored by State Senator Byron Sher and sponsored by Nevada County, prohibits the construction of any new dams, reservoirs and diversions on the South Yuba. The South Yuba was the first addition to the Wild and Scenic System since 1989 and the first river ever designated by a Democratic governor.
Roger Hicks, MD, SYRCL president at the time, commended the Governor on his decision. "Thank you, Governor Davis. Like the redwoods, the coastline and the Sierra Nevada itself, the South Yuba is a natural treasure for all Californians. This is a tremendous victory not only for the community that fought to protect this river, but also for the whole state of California. The success of SB 496 signals a new direction in managing our rivers and watersheds. It proves that sensible solutions to environmental protection, water supply and flood protection can be found."
Passage of the bill halted plans by the downstream Yuba County Water Agency to build two new dams on the South Yuba. One of the dams, at Edwards Crossing, would have stood 700 feet tall—only 25 feet shorter than the Hoover Dam. A second dam would have inundated the South Yuba State Park at Bridgeport, California's premier river-based state park and site of the world's longest single-span covered wooden bridge.
SB 496 was endorsed by most major state and national environmental groups, more than 200 businesses and more than two-thirds of the property owners along the river. The South Yuba generates tens of millions of dollars annually from tourism and recreation and is regarded by many residents as the region's most treasured natural feature.
Opponents' arguments that designation might prohibit necessary dams were belied by an April 1998 study by the Army Corps of Engineers and the California Reclamation Board rejecting new dams and recommending improvements to existing levees. CALFED and the State Water Plan envision no new water supply facilities for the South Yuba.
"Every expert has said we don't need to dam the South Yuba for flood control or water supply. Until now, focusing on these controversial and infeasible dams has only served to distract everyone from cooperating on a realistic flood control solution," said John Regan, Wild and Scenic Campaign Director for SYRCL.
Non-dam flood control for the Yuba and Feather River systems was a top priority of the Wild and Scenic campaign. SYRCL and Nevada County lobbied for the successful state Water Bond which contained $90 million in flood control projects for the Yuba and Feather Rivers, as well as for the federal 1999 Water Resources Development Act containing $17 million to bring downstream levees up to a 300-year level of flood protection. "We realized early on that as long as there is a flood threat downstream there will be a dam threat on the South Yuba," said SYRCL's Hicks.
"We wanted a win-win solution, and I think we got one. Wild and Scenic will protect the river and the economy of communities upstream, and the flood control projects will help protect lives and property downstream," said Regan.
Find out more:
Winter 2001, Sierra Citizen - "Yuba 2000: A Broader Vision."
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System homepage
News Archive from the Wild and Scenic Campaign
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