Restoration day at Shady Creek Outdoor School a huge success

By: Svetlana Vasilchenko, Restoration Coordinator

The SYRCL River Science program has kicked off the New Year the SYRCL way—with a restoration project! On January 26, SYRCL volunteers and staff worked in collaboration with Shady Creek Outdoor School and NCCC AmeriCorps to remove a dense patch of Scotch Broom from the Shady Creek Outdoor School grounds. The weather was perfect and we had a very fun and productive day!

Why is removing Scotch Broom important? Scotch Broom is a highly invasive, highly flammable exotic species. It was brought to the States as an ornamental and was later used for erosion control. Scotch Broom is not used by native wildlife for habitat or forage. In fact, it is actually toxic to some animals! Dense stands of Scotch Broom are a serious fire hazard. Oils in the plant are extremely flammable, and removing especially dense stands reduces fire risk.

SYRCL wants to recognize the volunteers who came out for this restoration project. A huge “THANK YOU!” for helping make the grounds at Shady Creek Outdoor School fire safe and beautiful! We appreciate our volunteers and cannot protect and restore the Yuba without you.

For more information or if would like to get involved, please contact SYRCL’s Restoration Coordinator, Svetlana, svetlana@syrcl.org or (530) 265-5961 x 216. We are looking forward to working alongside our volunteers for a very productive 2015!

2015 Scotch Broom Challenge

SYRCL is pleased to announce that we have scheduled the 2015 Scotch Broom Challenge for March 28 at HWY 49/Hoyts Crossing. SYRCL wants to call out our dedicated SYRCL Volunteers and challenge them to pull some broom!

When: Saturday, March 28th from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
Where: Hwy 49 Crossing @ the South Yuba River State Park Parking Lot
Contact: Svetlana Vasilchenko, Restoration Coordinator, at svetlana@syrcl.org or (530) 265-5961 x 216

We hope to see you all there! Stay tuned for more details. Thank you for your part in keeping the Yuba watershed beautiful, fire safe and weed free!

Thanks to Toyota’s National Environmental Education Foundation for supporting this work!