Rally Round the River on Saturday, September 25

September 1, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Miriam Limov, RiverPeople/Volunteer Coordinator    miriam@syrcl.org 530-265-5961 X 201

Jason Rainey, Executive Director       Jason@syrcl.org 530-265-5961 X 207

SYRCL’s 13^th Annual “Greater Yuba Clean-Up and Restoration Day” Announced   Rally Round the River on Saturday, September 25, 2010

The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) announces the upcoming 13^th annual “Greater Yuba Clean-Up and Restoration Day” on Saturday, September 25, 2010.  The event is in conjunction with the 2^nd Annual Great Sierra River Cleanup, a program of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. This all-day event includes clean-up and restoration projects from 9:00 am – noon, followed by a full afternoon of festivities at the South Yuba River State Park at Bridgeport crossing celebrating the Greater Yuba River and community volunteers. In 2009, a record number of over 700 volunteers—registering as individuals, civic and youth groups, or families—supported SYRCL’s Greater Yuba Clean-Up.

“The record turn-out in 2009 and representation from such a variety of youth and civic groups illustrates that protecting clean flowing rivers is a value that unites our community together,” says Miriam Limov, SYRCL’s organizer of the event.

SYRCL has spearheaded twelve successful years of river clean-ups in partnership with the California Coastal Commission’s Cleanup Day, the state’s largest volunteer event and largest volunteer event in Nevada County.  SYRCL’s Greater Yuba River Clean-Up and Restoration Day has stewarded sites ranging from the high Sierra mountains of Donner Summit to Parks Bar on the Lower Yuba, covering over 90 miles of shoreline.   With over half a million visitors each year to the South Yuba River alone, enormous amounts of litter are discarded over the summer months.  To address these recreational impacts, SYRCL has coordinated 4,800 volunteers who have removed 120,000 pounds of trash and recycling, rebuilt trails and removed invasive species during the three-hour cleanup day each September for the past 12 years.

“The Yuba is a majestic river, yet also a hard working river serving so many demands for water supply and peak power generation at considerable cost to river health.  These are complex issues to resolve,” states SYRCL executive director Jason Rainey.  “What’s great about the Clean Up is that we can identify an obvious and known problem such as litter in our river, organize the community, and work together to virtually eliminate the problem in one morning of effort.  That’s a powerful feeling to share.”

Additionally, SYRCL has partnered to offer volunteers an opportunity to support several habitat restoration projects on September 25^th, including removal of noxious weeds at Bridgeport and another vegetation project at the Bennett Street meadow in Grass Valley.

Volunteers can also make a difference on the popular Grouse Ridge trails in the Tahoe National Forest on September 18 through a pre-winter trail maintenance service project.  Meet at the Nevada City forest service office on Coyote Street at 8 am to carpool, bring a shovel or pick, lunch and water and we’ll enjoy a day up in the mountains fixing the trails that have had much use over the summer months.  You can sign up to participate in this project and the clean-up on September 25^th.  Both dates of participation require pre-registration.

New this year is the BYOB campaign: Bring your own, bag and/or buckets to pick up the trash, gloves, water bottle and serving ware to the celebration.  This action will reduce the amount of trash produced by the event by not having to produce more plastic bags than necessary.

River Celebration! Following the morning clean-up effort is a free hearty barbeque lunch and river celebration for participating clean-up volunteers at South Yuba River State Park at the Bridgeport crossing on the South Yuba River north of Penn Valley.  The buffet lunch is provided courtesy of the following restaurants and stores:  BriarPatch Co-op Community Market, New Belgium Brewery, SPD Market, Nevada County Free Range Beef, Indian Springs Organic Farm, Xtremely Green, Living Lands Agrarian Network, California Organics, Broad Street Bistro, Four Frog Farm, Flour Garden Bakery, Riverhill Farm, Summer Thyme’s Café, Mother Truckers, Natural Selection,Valentina’s Bakery and Carl’s Jr. Restaurant will provide lemonade (bring your own bottle!).

After lunch, the celebration will include the stories and magical juggling by renowned artist Izzi Tooinsky, dancing to the groovin’ tunes of members of the band, Sabroso, our annual Volunteer Awards, and a beer garden sponsored by the New Belgium Brewery.  The celebration will begin at noon and lasts until 3 pm. Guests are asked to bring low-back chairs, blankets, plates, cups and utensils.

“This is a wonderful family event where one third of the participants last year were ages 18 and under,” states Limov. “SYRCL aims to foster such stewardship and have even greater participation from the youth this year.”

In a new youth partnership, SYRCL is collaborating with The Nevada County Y.O.U.T.H. (Youth Opposing The Use of Tobacco for Health), Coalition to increase the amount of community awareness related to the environmental impact that tobacco litter has on rivers and aquatic life. They will have an info booth at the Bridgeport celebration; contact Felicia Sobonya at felicia.sobonya@co.nevada.ca.us for more info or to get involved.  Other youth and school groups interested in participating are encouraged to contact SYRCL to register for specialized projects.

Partners in the Event: Friends of Deer Creek, Wolf Creek Community Alliance, Nevada County Land Trust and Nevada County Resource Conservation District.

This event is made possible thanks to a grant from REI, and these generous sponsors: Nevada City Self Storage, KVMR, California State Parks, B&C True Value Hardware and YubaNet.com.

What: “The 13^th Annual Greater Yuba Clean-Up and Restoration Day” Event

Who: The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), in partnership with Friends of Deer Creek, Nevada County RCD, Wolf Creek Community Alliance, and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.

When: Saturday, September 25, 2010  9 am – noon for the Clean-Up and Restoration projects; 12 – 3 pm for the Celebration at Bridgeport

Where: 35 sites on the Yuba and Bear Rivers and Wolf and Deer Creeks followed by a

post-cleanup celebration at the South Yuba River State Park at the Bridgeport crossing.

More Information: www.yubariver.org or contact event coordinator, Miriam Limov at

miriam@syrcl.org 530-265-5961 X 201

On-Line Registration Required! To sign up for a Clean-Up site or for the restoration projects, please visit our website at www.yubariver.org to register.  Register early to make sure that you have the opportunity to cleanup at your favorite site!

The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) has organized our membership for over a quarter century to fulfill our mission to protect and restore the Yuba River and the Greater Yuba Watershed.