As your paddle dips into the calm water of the Lower Yuba River, you hear a splash from river right. The heads of all four 5th graders in your raft turn towards the sound in unison. Several long seconds pass by in silent anticipation before you see the flash of a tail: the outline of a female Chinook body dancing beneath the surface. There are reverent gasps from your raft, followed by a wild waving of arms signaling to the other boats in your pod that the magic we’ve been looking for is right here.
Become a volunteer naturalist and guide students through this experience. Register by September 15th.
Join us as a Salmon Tour participant with your school or as a fun Saturday adventure.
Do you love being outside and working with kids? Do you want to enjoy the beauty of the Yuba with others? Join SYRCL as a Volunteer Naturalist on fall Salmon Tours! This year SYRCL is again teaming up with Environmental Traveling Companions (ETC), the UC Sierra Foothill Extension Center, and a number of passionate local volunteers to offer Salmon Tours; bringing students from all around the watershed down the Lower Yuba River in rafts, or exploring its banks by foot, to witness the spawning of Chinook Salmon.
Salmon Tours will allow you to share moments like this with the next generation of environmental stewards and decision makers. Whether you’ve been down the river before or not, your time and energy as a teacher or volunteer will help to bring awe and wonder into the lives of hundreds of local students. For many, this will be the first time they have ever felt personally connected to the river and to the life that thrives within it. The power of this connection can last a lifetime – for them and for you – and may be just the thing that inspires the next great movement to protect our beautiful natural places.
Salmon Tours run from October 10th to November 17th, during the prime time for viewing Chinook Salmon spawning throughout the Lower Yuba River below Englebright Dam. We are seeking passionate individuals to join us as volunteers serving as naturalists on the rafts, as raft guides, and as naturalists on land. We will offer free training on October 7th and 8th.
On October 7th, ETC will train volunteers to guide rafts down the Lower Yuba from Parks Bar to Sycamore Ranch. On October 8th, we will run the same stretch of river as a training for all Volunteer Naturalists, learning from and teaching one another in order to offer the best experience that we can to students. We also invite high school students to join us as Student Volunteer Naturalists!