Today, the Yuba is the site of PG&E˜s largest hydro-electric project (the Colgate Project, now under the operation and ownership of Yuba County Water Agency), as well as the source for water sold to industrial agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley and municipalities in southern California.

For the first time in 50 years, four hydropower operators must apply for a new license for their scores of dams and hundreds of miles of diversion canals that segment and divert every major fork of the Yuba, the Bear River, and dozens of important tributary streams.

Re-licensing through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to manage rivers for ecological and recreational needs, in addition to meeting power generation and water supply needs.

SYRCL has been preparing since 2005 to support a collaborative, community based re-licensing process to achieve the following goals:

• Restore natural flow regimes that support healthy habitat and aquatic species˜ life cycles.
• Restore water quality to reduce algae and minimize contamination from historic and current mining operations.
• Maximize native fishery and anadromous fish protection and recovery across all reaches impacted by the FERC project facilities.
• Support tribal interests in gaining access to traditional cultural and dietary resources.
• Enhance river recreation opportunities, such as in-stream water releases that benefit whitewater boating opportunities while optimizing river ecology.
• Develop an adaptive management protocol that is responsive to changing conditions in the watershed over the course of the next FERC license (such as climate change impacts and habitat needs for special status species).

To meet these goals, SYRCL has worked with community members and groups in the following ways:

• SYRCL was on the ground floor in creating the Foothills Water Network, which organizes the efforts of local, statewide and national conservation and recreational groups advocating in the Yuba River relicensing processes.
• In 2006, SYRCL joined the Steering Committee of the California Hydropower Reform Coalition, which provides support and additional capacity to meet our restoration goals for the Yuba.
• With American Rivers and the Natural Heritage Institute, SYRCL produced a 6-month citizen training program called "The FERC Academy" in 2005, which "graduated" over 20 citizens to effectively participate in the Yuba relicensing. Today, that effort is extended as part of our Yuba Stewards Program.

SYRCL is focused on the re-licensing of the following projects (license expiration indicated):

Nevada Irrigation District˜s Yuba-Bear Project #2266 (2013)
Pacific Gas & Electric Company˜s Drum-Spaulding Project #2310 (2013)
Yuba County Water Agency˜s New Bullards Bar Project (2016)
Placer County Water Agency˜s Middle Fork American Project (2013)