SYRCL is recruiting for our 23rd River Monitoring Season

We are looking for dedicated, environmentally driven volunteers to help monitor the water quality in the Yuba Watershed

SYRCL has recruited volunteers for the past 22 years to monitor what has grown to 37 water quality sites across the Yuba watershed.

The vast amount of water quality data collected has been crucial in our protection and restoration efforts. If you want to learn more about why we monitor, we invite you to read our River Monitoring Plan.

If you are interested in being one of our intrepid community scientist River Monitors you will need to attend an ORIENTATION at the SYRCL Office at 5:30 pm on Thursday February 23, 2023 AND a mandatory FIELD TRAINING at Bridgeport from 9:00 am – 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 4, 2023

At the ORIENTATION: you will learn about the background of SYRCL’s River Monitoring Program, with an emphasis on what and why we monitor.

At the Mandatory FIELD TRAINING: you will become familiar with SYRCL’s sampling protocol, practice working with the sampling equipment, and learn to fill out the data sheets. This training will be located at the Bridgeport Crossing at the South Yuba River State Park

To sign up, contact SYRCL’s River Monitoring Coordinator Wrenn Cleary at (530)265-5961 x205 or send her an email by clicking the button below.

Top Five Reasons to Become a River Monitor

1. Be part of a dedicated team of scientists and environmental stewards working to keep the Yuba clean and safe.
2. See the Yuba watershed in all seasons! Monitors visit their adopted site once a month from March-November to collect data and make valuable observations. Observe the Yuba’s beautiful spring flowers, summer sun, fall colors, and winter flows!
3. Learn how water flow and other factors impact water chemistry. Each month we test for pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, Temperature, and Turbidity. Learn why all these parameters matter and how they affect habitat quality!
4. Once trained, River Monitors can further develop their skills by volunteering with SYRCL’s other river science projects (like meadow monitoring and storm sampling).
5. Contribute data to support SYRCL’s River Monitoring Plan which focuses on long-term trend monitoring, abandoned mines, dam-affected reaches, the Upper South Yuba River Watershed, bacterial contamination of recreational waters, nutrient and chemical runoff, and invasive/sensitive species lists.

Special thanks to Ralph, Nancy and Sol Henson for this video.

March 11th is the first monthly water quality monitoring day of 2023

Our trained River Monitors will head out to collect water samples and fill out their data sheets! River Monitors have the opportunity to collect vital water quality data while also getting to enjoy the magnificent canyons of the Yuba.

The 2023 River Monitoring Schedule (second Saturday of each month)

• March 11
• April 8
• May 13
• June 10
• July 8
• August 12
• September 9
• October 14
• November 11

You can also download our extensive dataset collected by our trained citizen scientists at RiverDB.org.

Thank you to our dedicated community scientists who make it all possible. SYRCL volunteers make the River Monitoring Program one of the strongest citizen-based monitoring projects in the nation!