Yuba River Recreation Projects
SYRCL-03

  1. Project Sponsor Contact Information

Lead Agency/Organization / The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL)
Name of Primary Contact(s) / Rachel Hutchinson
Mailing Address / 313 Railroad Avenue, Nevada City, CA 95959
Email Address /
Phone / 530-265-5961 x205
Project Partners/Collaborators / Yuba County Water Agency, Yuba County Planning Dept, Bear-Yuba Land Trust
  1. General Project Information

Project Title / Yuba River Recreation Projects
Project Total Budget / Total Project Budget: $400,000
Project Components include:
  1. Comprehensive Lower Yuba Recreation Planapprox.$100,000
  2. Yuba Watershed Discovery Portals approx. $150,000
  3. Rice’s Crossing Recreation Plan and Implementation approx. $150,000

Project Funding Match
Project Funding Request / $400,000
Can a detailed cost estimate be provided upon request? / YES
Project Location:
Latitude
Longitude
Could you provide a map of the project location including boundaries upon request? / Yes
Project Location Description:
County / Yuba
City/Community
Watershed/subwatershed / Yuba River
Groundwater Basin / Yuba Groundwater Basin
Project Type / Best Management Practices
Demonstration/Pilot Project
  1. Project Description

SYRCL’s Yuba Recreation Program consists of the following sub-programs:
  1. Comprehensive Lower Yuba Recreation Plan
Description: SYRCL and the Bear-Yuba Land Trust will work with Yuba County Planning Department, stakeholders and residents to develop a Master Recreation Plan for the Lower Yuba. The Plan will include the defining of recreation facilities and programs, providing accessible open space and access to the river, greenways, blueways and trails, preserving natural areas, programming for a diverse population and stressing the importance of developing partnerships to maximize resources. The project will build on the recommendations of the Yuba County General Plan Update and will include several model implementation demonstration sites.
  1. Yuba Watershed Discovery Portals
Description:This project consists of seven water conservation kiosks and demonstration projects. Designed to educate and promote water supply and quality in Yuba County for residential agricultural use and for natural resource values, and to gain community support for the protection and restoration of the complex and effective water system in Yuba County.
The Project encompasses a series of seven demonstration “portal” sites comprising information kiosks, interpretive signage, demonstration projects such as riparian restoration, trails, maps of how the Yuba watershed works, and promotional tools for residents, tourists and schools.
The seven sites would begin at the top of the watershed and end at the confluence in Marysville and follow The Yuba Road designation and be connected with trails and roads.
Portal 1: Bullards Bar Dam featuring the YCWA reservoir storage site and healthy forest management techniques;
Portal 2: Colgate Powerhouse featuring hydroelectric power generation and clean energy, entering oak woodlands;
Portal 3: The Narrows featuring an historic hydraulic mine site, and agricultural lands;
Portal 4: Parks Bar Bridge featuring angler recreation, and the beginning of the Goldfields;
Portal 5: Hammon Grove featuring the Goldfields, and restoration projects;
Portal 6: Daguerre Dam featuring the salmon fish ladder;
Portal 7: Hallwood featuring the floodplain, andConfluence at Marysville.
  1. Rice’s Crossing Project Recreation Plan
Description: The Rice’s Crossing Project includes 1,000 acres along the Yuba River, which until now has been closed to the public. The land was recently acquired for the publicthrough acollaborative conservation effort.
The Rice’s Crossing ProjectRecreation Plan is the first step to creating opportunities throughout the Project area for multiple recreation uses, historic conservation and economic success for several DACs in the Yuba IRWM region. SYRCL, along with the Bear-Yuba Land Trust and other stakeholders and residents, will write a RecreationPlan for the project which will define recreational linkages and corridors between major state parks, public lands and historic places; access to five historic riverfront townsites; access to archeologically important areas dating back 3,000 years; protection of a north-south and east-west wildlife corridor; expansion of a nationally renowned 16-mile mountain biking trail; protection of 9.5 miles of Class IV and V boating; support for rural tourism and economic development efforts in disadvantaged communities. Opportunities for the pubic to fish, boat, kayak, raft, hike, horseback ride, swim, pan and camp will all be considered, along with the economic benefits that recreation will bring to disadvantaged communities in the area and the impacts of proposed recreation on water quality, ecosystem restoration and protection of the Yuba River.
  1. Project Rationale/Issues Statement

The project addresses the following identified regional issues:
Issue: Recreation:
  • Promote and implement comprehensive recreational planning with a focus on regional economic development in the Lower Yuba River and beyond to improve local economies, improve habitat, and reduce human impact and threats to public safety
Issue: Forest Health (Rice’s Crossing):
  • Promote management policies and practices that protect forests and water supply and quality
  • Steward healthy forests, employ fire and fuels management and restore watershed health vulnerable to the impacts of climate change
Issue: Land Conservation
  • Address the connection between land-use planning and water
  • Enhance recreational and economic development opportunities through land conservation efforts
  • Protect working landscapes from being lost to development, particularly ranch/ag lands, and the watershed benefits they provide

  1. Goals/Objectives/PerformanceMetrics

Goals Addressed by the Project / Goal 3: Preserve and restore watershed health and promote environmental stewardship
Goal 4: Enhance regional economic development by supporting recreational opportunities and sustainable agriculture
Goal 7: Promote equitable distribution of resources to disadvantaged communities and tribes across the region
Objectives Addressed by Project / 3.7Steward the region’s ecological resources that directly provide opportunities for public access, recreation and education
4.1 Promote comprehensive recreation planning and implementation with a focus on regional economic development
4.2 Enhance river access points to encourage recreational use while managing for human impacts to watershed health
4.3 Create river corridor linkages while enhancing migration corridors for plants and animals
4.4 Explore opportunities to increase water-dependent tourism throughout the region while building local communities’ capacity to manage their recreational amenities
7.3 Foster partnerships to build the capacity of DACs and tribes throughout the region to manage their own recreational amenities
7.4 Promote regional education and outreach in collaboration with DACs and tribes
What performance metrics will be used to demonstrate that objectives are being met? Wherever possible, provide a quantitative measurement reflecting successful project outcomes. / 3.7Steward the region’s ecological resources that directly provide opportunities for public access, recreation and education
  • Number and diversity of people reached
  • Number and diversity of outreach materials developed
  • Measurable changes in knowledge or behavior
4.1 Promote comprehensive recreation planning and implementation with a focus on regional economic development
  • Number of collaboratively developed plans and assessments
  • Percent of planning efforts resulting in project implementation
4.2 Enhance river access points to encourage recreational use while managing for human impacts to watershed health
  • Number of collaboratively developed plans and assessments
  • Number of projects implemented
4.3 Create river corridor linkages while enhancing migration corridors for plants and animals
  • Number of collaboratively developed plans and assessments
  • Number of projects implemented
4.4 Explore opportunities to increase water-dependent tourism throughout the region while building local communities’ capacity to manage their recreational amenities
  • Number of collaboratively developed plans and assessments
  • Number of projects implemented
7.3 Foster partnerships to build the capacity of DACs and tribes throughout the region to manage their own recreational amenities
  • Number of projects developed or implemented
  • Number and diversity of people reached
  • Number and diversity of outreach materials developed
  • Number of collaboratively developed plans and assessments
  • Percent of planning efforts resulting in project implementation
  • Number of trainings conducted
7.4 Promote regional education and outreach in collaboration with DACs and tribes
  • Number and diversity of people reached
  • Number and diversity of outreach materials developed
  • Number of trainings conducted

  1. Resource Management Strategies

Practice Natural Resources Stewardship
Agricultural Lands Stewardship / x
Ecosystem Restoration / x
Forest Management / x
Land Use Planning and Management / x
Water-dependent Recreation / x
Watershed Management / x
  1. Statewide Priorities

Climate Change Response Actions

  • Adaptation to Climate Change: Establish migration corridors, re-establish river-floodplain, hydrologic continuity, re-introduce anadromous fish populations to upper watersheds, enhance and protect upper watershed forests and meadow systems

Expand Environmental Stewardship

  • Expand environmental stewardship to protect and enhance the environment by improving watershed, floodplain, and instream functions and to sustain water and flood management ecosystems

Ensure Equitable Distribution of Benefits

  • Increase the participation of small and disadvantaged communities in the IRWM process
  • Develop multi-benefit projects with consideration of affected disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations

Climate Change Adaptation
Briefly describe how the project assists the region in adapting to the effects of climate change. Also, describe how well you anticipate the project will perform when considering the projected effects of climate change, such as more extreme weather events, warmer/dryer conditions, earlier snowmelt, etc.

The project would assist the region in adapting to the effects of climate change by establishing migration corridors, and enhancing/protecting upper watershed forests.

GHG Emissions Reduction (maximum 200 words)
Briefly describe how the project mitigates for GHG emissions. Additionally, describe the process by which the project considered GHG reduction among project alternatives. See attachedGHG Reduction Considerations for Project Design and Alternatives.

This project does not mitigate for GHG emissions.
  1. Project Status and Schedule

Project Stage / Description of Activities in Each Project Stage / Planned/Actual Start Date / Planned/Actual Completion Date
Planning
Design
Environmental Documentation (CEQA/NEPA) / TBD for project 2 and 3
Permitting
Tribal Consultation (if not applicable, indicate by N/A)
Construction/
Implementation / Project 1 is ready to go and needs no permitting.
  1. Project Technical Feasibility

  1. List the water planning documents that specifically identify this project.

  1. List the adopted planning documents the proposed project is consistent with (e.g., General Plans, UWMPs, GWMPs, Water Master Plans, Habitat Conservation Plans, etc.)
/ Yuba County General Plan Update
Yuba County Parks Master Plan, adopted 2/19/2008
  1. List technical reports and studies supporting the feasibility of this project.

If you are an Urban Water Supplier:
  1. Have you completed an Urban Water Management Plan and submitted to DWR?

  1. Are you in compliance with AB1420?

  1. Do you comply with the water meter requirements (CWC Section 525)?

  1. If the answer to any of the questions above is “no,” do you intend to comply prior to receiving project funding?

If you are an Agricultural Water Supplier:
  1. Have you completed and submitted an AWMP?

  1. If not, will you complete an AWMP prior to receiving project funding?

If the project is related to groundwater:
  1. Has GWMP been completed and submitted for the subject basin?

  1. If not, will the GWMP be completed within one year of the grant submittal date?

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