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Lower Yuba River AccordLocation: Nevada City, CA *Sierra Nevada Region (Nevada and Yuba Counties) Contact: Yuba Strategy Project Manager Derek Hitchcock 530-265-5961, ext. 261 derek@syrcl.org Water is the lifeblood of Sierra Forests. Arriving in the arid west from the banks of the vast Mississippi, author Mark Twain is attributed as saying, "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But the 19th Century has passed, and so, thankfully, has the truth in that statement - or, at least, it will no longer be applicable on the now federally designated Wild and Scenic South Yuba River. Using three separate but interrelated tools: a fisheries agreement, a water purchase agreement and conjunctive use agreements, the South Yuba River Citizens' League (SYRCL), worked with diverse stakeholders to draft the Lower Yuba River Accord. In 2005, SYRCL initiated "an interest-based negotiation process" rather than one "based on historic positions." Jason Rainey explains, "There is a real difference between the two. Free of the arguments that previously limited us, we learned it was possible to protect the Yuba's salmon and steelhead while also protecting local water rights and water supplies." With local, regional, state and federal water agencies, Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game (DFG), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries and Reclamation, Friends of the River, Trout Unlimited, The Bay Institute, farmers, fishing industry, and individual landowners at the table, this type of collaboration that brings not only environmental but also nets financial and community benefits is nothing new to SYRCL. In order to modify a private timber harvest plan in the South Yuba River Canyon to prevent erosion into the river, SYRCL joined forces with a number of other groups to create a historic Memorandum of Understanding to prevent clearcuts in the river canyon while alternatives were being sought. Although the MOU expired in 2001, all parties honored it for another two years, until SYRCL joined with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Sierra Pacific Industries to protect the 731 acres. TPL plans to purchase the land from SPI and convey it to California State Parks to expand the South Yuba River State Park. Part of the purchase will include a land exchange that has components similar to some water exchange components in the Lower Yuba River Accord water purchase agreement. In the water exchange agreement, money is allocated to help farmers dig wells rather than divert the river, and to help SYRCL scientists monitor the effectiveness of the wells. This creative use of resource exchange will provide the farmers more clean, reliable water than before, and allow the river to run clear, fast, and cold: conditions that salmon need to thrive. The water purchase agreement also calls for Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA), under certain conditions, to transfer surface water supplies to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The revenue from these transfers will enable YCWA to finance activities called for in the Yuba Accord, and to strengthen flood control levees in Yuba County. See other SYRCL projects in Community and Economy: Arts, and Conservation: Land Exchanges. For more about:
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