Service Commitment:

SNAP AmeriCorps members are passionate and committed to the mission of the Sierra Nevada Alliance, SNAP and AmeriCorps. Members make a year-long, full-time commitment to serve a nonprofit organization or public agency in the Sierra Nevada. The SNAP Term of Service is from early-November 2023 – late-September 2024 (exact dates TBD).

Position Location:

SYRCL’s office is in Nevada City, CA – a lovely town and community in the Sierra foothills. Historic Nevada City is regarded as a cultural, artistic and environmental hub within the Sierra Nevada Range. Once the epicenter of the California Gold Rush, Nevada City—in proximity to the South Yuba River -- is undergoing a multi-decade renaissance as a model community pursuing ecological and economical sustainability through innovative green enterprises, neo-agrarian renewal and watershed restoration. All of our work is conducted in the beautiful and inspiring Yuba Watershed.

Organization Description:

SYRCL is the leading voice for the protection and restoration of the Yuba River and greater Yuba Watershed. Founded in 1983 through a rural, grassroots campaign to defend the South Yuba River from proposed hydropower dams, SYRCL has developed into a vibrant community organization with over 3,500 members and volunteers based in Nevada City.

Since achieving Wild and Scenic status for the South Yuba River in 1999, SYRCL has developed a variety of successful programs for inspiring environmental activism and supporting responsible watershed stewardship. These range from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival to a Watershed Science Program with a large citizen component and strong standing in collaborative forums. Most recently, SYRCL launched the River Ambassadors Program, a volunteer-based initiative to reach out to Yuba River users about to keep the river clean, safe and healthy. River Ambassadors is a response to the uncertain future of management of the State Parks lands along the South Yuba River, and a request from State Parks to be supported by SYRCL’s pool of volunteers. SYRCL is also involved in a variety of watershed restoration and protection initiatives and has been growing its education reach in classrooms year-round, on the river through rafting fieldtrips in the fall, and in theatres during the film festival.

SYRCL is the leading regional supporter for creating resilient human and natural communities throughout the greater Yuba River basin by restoring creeks and rivers, restoring wild salmon populations, and inspiring and organizing people – from the headwaters to the sea.

Program Description:

SYRCL’s Watershed Science Department is comprised of a number of restoration and project monitoring efforts throughout the Yuba River Watershed. These programs inform priority issues and restoration opportunities through extensive monitoring, analysis of conditions and trends, and collaborative watershed assessment. SYRCL works with a variety of project partners to develop, implement, and monitor restoration projects throughout the Yuba River Watershed. Projects include large-scale floodplain rehabilitation, construction, and riparian planting projects in the lower Yuba River, water quality monitoring throughout the watershed, and a variety of meadow restoration projects. In addition to all aspects of project design and implementation, SYRCL works with project partners to design academically rigorous research projects associated with restoration projects to quantify the benefits of restoration actions and inform future restoration and management decisions.

SYRCL’s citizen-based River Monitoring Program utilizes over 50 volunteers to collect water quality data on a monthly basis at 37 sites throughout the 1,300 square mile watershed. The program also monitors water quality conditions for mine-impacted streams and meadow restoration projects. Program volunteers are trained in the identification of sensitive and invasive species, bioassessment, photo documentation, temperature logger deployment, and meadows health assessment. In 2021, the publication of the online RiverDB (www.RiverDB.org) created a repository for River Monitoring data and a platform for watershed assessment. It also serves as a database of Yuba River water quality available to the public, with simple automatically generated graphs for visualization.

Position Description:

The River Monitoring Coordinator will provide leadership and the primary coordinating capacity for SYRCL’s renowned water quality monitoring program. The River Monitoring Coordinator will serve closely with SYRCL’s Hydrologist to implement the River Monitoring Plan and ensure high-quality data collection and analysis. Further, the coordinator will participate in a range of data-gathering activities within SYRCL’s Watershed Science Program and will take primary responsibility for specific monitoring and reporting tasks, such as the coordination and training of volunteers and the review of volunteer data collection.

The River Monitoring Coordinator will also assist the Watershed Science staff with pre- and post-restoration project monitoring for meadow and floodplain habitats. The River Monitoring Coordinator will utilize SYRCL’s River Monitoring Plan to collect new data in order to resolve issues around mine land streams, pollution concerns in the Yuba, restoration, dam-affected reaches, fish habitat requirements, in addition to bacteria, nutrients, and algae.

In addition to the specific field service component, all monitoring tasks will require recording data in digital formats and/or on paper. The River Monitoring Coordinator will collaborate with the ecohydrologist to QA/QC data, analyze and track trends, generate graphics, and write reports. The River Monitoring Coordinator will also provide outreach and education at community events, school classes, and in our field science high school education meadow research programs, YOLO and Earthwatch.

Desired Qualifications:

Additional skills and experiences are:

• Concentrated experience working in west slope Sierra rivers, mountain meadows, or floodplains and wetlands
• Water quality monitoring equipment management and maintenance skills on rivers
• Scientific study design, monitoring, and analysis skills
• Experience with flow monitoring and discharge relationships
• Knowledge of terrestrial and aquatic invasive and sensitive native species
• Basic GIS, Excel, and RStudio skills
• Demonstrated experience teaching science content

Required Qualifications:
A successful River Monitoring Coordinator should have the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in physical or biological sciences with coursework in watershed sciences, aquatic ecology, or related subjects and/or equivalent experience
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience organizing and motivating people
• Good written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking to large groups of adults or students
• Good leadership and team skills
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize
• Organized and attention to detail, especially when assembling materials and equipment for field servicework
• Experience in biological fieldwork and willingness to work outdoors in strenuous physical activity under diverse weather conditions, such as hiking with equipment and/or work during inclement temperatures, for up to 10 hours, and use of field tools.
• Willingness to do office work, data entry and analysis
• Available to work occasional weekends and evenings
• Comfortable in water and river environments
• Valid driver’s license
• Personal vehicle available for work assignments with reimbursement

Additional Benefits:

• Participation in the 22 nd Annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in February 2024
• Networking among hundreds of community organizers and environmental professionals
• Fieldwork in beautiful river and meadow environments located within the Yuba River watershed