Program areas at SYRCL
Wild & scenic film festival: 2024 brought syrcl's 22nd annual wild & scenic film festival. The "flagship festival" in Nevada city and grass valley occurred virtually in february 2024 and featured more than 120 films, scores of guest filmmakers, workshops, online art exhibits, and celebrations for thousands of attendees to the 11-day educational event. The "on-tour" program, which partners with other non-profit groups, traveled to more than 150 communities throughout the united states sharing informational and inspirational films and stories.
The River people program engages the entire watershed community to become involved as volunteers through River ambassadors, River restoration & monitoring, the wild & scenic film festival, special events, and the Yuba River cleanup. This program continues to coordinate one of the largest River cleanups in California with more than 800 volunteers. To promote responsible citizen stewardship of the Yuba, our River ambassador program connects with 10,000 visitors over the 12 weekends in the summer at several River crossings near popular swimming areas along the South Yuba River state park. River ambassadors, who are specially trained volunteers, educate the public and assist with promoting fire-safety, recycling, and litter prevention. This was the 12th year of this project, and it continues to raise public awareness that visitors need to "pack out what they pack in."
In 2023-24, syrcl's watershed science program was fully engaged in fish and habitat studies on the lower Yuba River and meadow restoration projects at the Yuba headwaters. Also, it provided scientific input into regulatory processes that affect River flows in the Yuba basin. The watershed science program includes the River education program which brought educational presentations on water conservation and fish habitat to schools in Nevada county and surrounding counties. River monitoring, another component of watershed science, entered its 23rd year, and continued to monitor the water quality of the Yuba River using volunteer citizen-scientists to collect data so that any potential threats could be detected. Each year, more than 80 River monitors collect high quality data at nearly 40 sites.
River policy