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The Yuba River Monitoring Program officially began in October 2000 as a citizen- and community-based program. The program is similar to River Keeper programs that have been working successfully nationwide to make watersheds healthy for fish and wildlife and safe for fishing, swimming and drinking. We use water quality monitoring and analysis, research, observations, education, advocacy, and collaboration as tools to restore and protect our Yuba watershed.
In November, 2001, The Yuba River Monitoring Program was honored with the Sierra Nevada Group of the Sierra Club's prestigious Citizen Activist Award. The award commends the program's outstanding work for the local environment and the community.
Why do we need a Yuba River Monitoring Program? Crystal clear water in the North, Middle, and South Yuba Rivers start high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and flows downward encountering hydropower facilities that alter water flows and temperatures, dams that block salmon and steelhead migration, historic mining areas that have caused mercury and other metals contamination in the sediment and soils, logging practices in and around riparian zones which cause erosion and siltation of spawning gravels for trout, and chemical and bacterial contamination caused by stormwater runoff. The water quality of the lower Yuba River that flows into the Feather River is significantly degraded in comparison to the water quality of the Yuba River high in the Sierras.
What do we do? Participants in the Yuba River Monitoring program traverse to one of 27 field sites to gather real data which is then analyzed to reveal and document impacts on the watershed. Our data is then used to work with agencies, local landowners, and other stakeholders to collaborate, problem-solve, and ultimately clean up and restore the Yuba River basin. Volunteer monitors dedicate one Saturday per month to sample at an assigned site on the river. Volunteers who cannot afford time on weekends are involved in other necessary in-house tasks including equipment and data maintenance.
What does Volunteer Monitoring involve? As a Volunteer Monitor, you travel to your site one Saturday morning per month to collect water quality samples and take measurements. You will be required to attend our water quality sampling trainings and will be responsible (with the rest of your team) for sampling at your site for one year. Interested river monitors can also volunteer to be a member of the "Quick Response Team," which takes water samples before, during, and after storm events, as well as in the case of a pollutant spill near or in the river.
What are the benefits of being a Volunteer Monitor? Volunteer monitors enjoy the benefit of being part of a community of people working together to learn about, study, and restore their river. Volunteer Monitors learn new water quality sampling skills, become intrinsically aware of how land use can affect the watershed, make new friends, and know that they are doing something helpful for the Yuba River.
How will the public know about our results? SYRCL releases an annual publication called "The State of the Yuba". Our publication will bring together the results of our water quality monitoring with other data in the watershed, and give a general assessment of the health of our watershed.
We have a historic opportunity to come together as a community to monitor the health of our river ecosystem and work with all stakeholders in the watershed to restore our river to its natural state. We want you to be involved!
Yuba River Volunteer Monitors
The volunteers that make up SYRCL's Yuba Watershed Monitoring Program are some of the most dedicated people in Northern California. Not only do they dedicate 12 months of their lives to go out sampling, but they also put in a large number of hours for trainings throughout the year. Ranging in age from 11 to 70, Yuba Monitors go out one Saturday a month, some traveling 1-2 hours through rain, snow, and mud to get to one of 27 sites within the Yuba Watershed. In the cold rain and hot sun they gather water samples and perform a variety of tests. They have the privilege of seeing the seasonal changes at their site and comparing data from month to month. In our second year of the program, we had nearly an 80 percent return rate of experienced Year One monitors, many of them wanting to continue monitoring at their original site.
In addition to our crew of monitors, we have a large number of SYRCL volunteers who come into the office to prepare site kits and materials each month. From entering data into the computer to calibrating equipment to welcoming monitors when they return from the field, these volunteers are another incredible and essential element within the River Monitoring program.
The Yuba River Monitoring program depends on the commitment of its volunteers ... as with all of SYRCL's events and programs. Our amazing volunteers are the heart and foundation of the success of SYRCL.
THANK YOU SYRCL VOLUNTEERS!
If you would like to be a citizen monitor or take on another role in the program or if you have any questions, please contact Kayle Martin, RiverAssisant at 265-5961 x201 or kayle@syrcl.org
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