YUBA RIVER WATERSHED North Yuba River1 Overflow from Lake Spaulding into Yuba2 THE WATERSHED AT A GLANCE Redding CALIFORNIA NEVADA The Yuba River Watershed stems from the 44 Lassen Pk. 139 west slope of the Sierra Nevada at Donner 44 Pass to the Feather River near Yuba City. 5 Most of the Yuba River’s flow comes from Inskip Hill 36 Turner Mt. Diamond Mt. its three main tributaries: North Yuba, Chester 36 Middle Yuba, and South Yuba Rivers. The Dyer Mt. Onion Bt. Yuba River Watershed includes a diverse Red Bluff Humboldt array of environments and conditions— Summit 89 from snow-covered subalpine zones near the Sierra crest to dry oak woodlands in 395 the lower watershed. Compared to other Mt. Ingalls Sierra Nevada watersheds, the Yuba has Corning Bald Eagle Mt. been rated in “fair” to “poor” condition 32 70 based on native fish populations despite Mt. Ararat having one of the most important wild Pilot Pk. 70 70 steelhead fisheries in the Central Valley. Eureka Pk. The largely forested upper watershed and Chico Bloomer Hill 49 flood-prone lower watershed have been Saddleback Mt. S 99 a c Sierra Bt.s affected by mining, logging, dams and r a m Willows e diversions, and residential development. n t o Oroville The patchwork of land ownership in the Pike County Pk. 49 watershed and numerous abandoned 89 Bowman Mt. Oregon Pk. mines present land and watershed Castle Pk. R Gridley i Signal Pk. management challenges. v 5 e r Mt. Lincoln Sutter Buttes Nevada City Banner Mt. Snow Mt. Colusa WATERSHED STATISTICS Whisky Hill Sutter Grass Valley Little Bald Mt. Watershed Size: 1,340 square miles Williams Yuba City Lake Tahoe Watershed Length: ~40 miles 80 Annual Average Precipitation: 80 inches in upper watershed; 20 inches in lower Auburn Lookout Mt. watershed Big Hill Elevation: Placerville 50 Highest: 9,148 ft. (Mount Lola) Woodland Lowest: 60 ft. (confluence with Esparto 50 Feather River in Marysville) Sacramento S Population: ~16,000 Davis Mokelumne Pk. Counties: Sierra, Placer, Yuba, Nevada Dixon Management Issues: water quality Vacaville (sediment, mercury, temperature), forest/ 5 49 Yuba Watershed fuels management, flood management, 80 abandoned mines, fisheries Yuba, American, Bear Subregion 0 20 Miles Yuba River Watershed within the American Subregion PAGE 157 AMERICAN RIVER SUBREGION: Yuba River Watershed e F t Paradise t Mt. Ararat u Res B r k e r r v r Rive o i e F r h Pilot Pk. R e t a h e F Paradise t 70 a r e k e F r Fo h t Little Grass Eureka Pk. e a l h e e d t l r F d id . o r id Valley Lake t C M s h M N c e n re W F Bloomer Hill 89 Saddleback Mt. r. 70 C Lake Sly Creek e Oroville t . Sierra Bt.s a r l C Res S on ny Ca Ri v e r h rt N o Jackson Thermalito Oroville Pike County Pk. Res Meadows Res S Bowman Lake 49 er Independence New Riv r Lake e Bullards r. Yuba v C ddle i i M Bowman Mt. R t Bar u c Oregon Pk. n 1 o North Fork waterfall, Downieville H P h . t r Lake Castle Pk. r C o Cre N Merle Spaulding Signal Pk. a r Collins Yub e h h t t t cu Res r u a on e So e H Donner L Hydrology South iv Scotts F R Mt. Lincoln Flat The Yuba River has three forks: North, Middle, and Lake Englebright Banner Mt. Res Valley Res Lake Nevada City Snow Mt. South Yuba. The North and Middle Yuba Rivers Lake Wildwood 80 a Grass Valley b River Yu Whisky Hill come together below New Bullards Bar Reservoir Rollins n rica me Res A and form the mainstem Yuba River. Each of these rk Little Bald Mt.French Fo river sections is discussed below. Meadows r. Nort h Yuba City C Res y r r e D v North Fork Yuba River i Hell R Camp r e Hole v i Far West R meri The North Yuba River rises near the eastern border A c Res n a r R a n e Resi k 99 ve ic iv r r R r r o ea e Middle F B Am Loon ar r Be ve of the Tahoe National Forest, on a mountainside Ri Lake B y along California State Route 49. It flows southwest p 70 a A s merica n s R k u or b c F k i on th r r . or le Fo e then west through a 3,000-foot-deep canyon past Cr N dd iv i R M n o o C the small villages of Downieville, where it receives r e Auburn Stumpy h t Union Valley Res a Meadows Res the Downie River, and Goodyears Bar. It then e F Lookout Mt. Cr. Big Hill incorporates the flow of Canyon Creek and Slate Ice House Res asa Ple nt . Gr r ov er e C v Cr. il Creek, two of its main tributaries, and very soon k Slab Creek S S c o o 80 ut R Res h Fork Am after widens into New Bullards Bar Reservoir, which W erican eb e r R C i r. Placerville v is impounded by the 645-foot New Bullards Bar e Folsom r Dam. Very soon after leaving the dam it joins with Lake Jenkinson Lake Dams over 25’ the Middle Yuba to form the Yuba River. Lake Natoma 50 0 10 Miles n a ic Sacramentoer Am Hydrology in the Yuba River Watershed New Bullards Bar Reservoir2 Middle Fork Yuba River Originating in a bowl-shaped valley in Moscove Meadow, the Middle Fork flows north into Jackson Meadows Reservoir, then turns west, descending steeply into a gorge, defining over almost its entire length the boundary of Nevada County in the north and Yuba County in the south. The river bends to the southwest, then west again, receiving Kanaka Creek from the right and Grizzly Creek from the left. It intersects California State Route 49 about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of North San Juan, then a few miles after joins with the North Fork Yuba River. North Yuba near Pacific Crest Trail4 South Fork Yuba River The South Yuba originates at Donner Pass at the northward into a steep-sided valley. Canyon Creek crest of the Sierra Nevada, near the town of Soda enters from the right, then Poorman Creek also Springs. Gathering numerous snowfed tributaries, from the right near the town of Washington. The it runs west through a marshy, lake-filled valley, river continues west into the foothills, crossing shadowed by Interstate 80. The river then flows under State Route 49. Its mouth is on the east shore into Lake Spaulding, which is formed by Spaulding of Englebright Lake, formed by a dam across the Dam. After escaping from the dam the river plunges Yuba River. Jackson Meadows Reservoir3 PAGE 158 AMERICAN RIVER SUBREGION: Yuba River Watershed Flows in the watershed are typical of Sacramento Valley tributaries with headwaters in the Sierra Nevada. Flows are highest in winter and spring, decreasing quickly in late spring. In 2008, the SWRCB approved the Lower Yuba River Accord Agreement, which is now fully operational. The agreement combines increased instream fisheries flows for wild, native salmon and steelhead, with increased supplemental water supplies for cities and farms. South Yuba swollen from rain5 Yuba mainstem and grassy hill1 Sediment loads in the watershed can be attributed Hydrology, Continued to historical mining as well as recent human activities such as road construction associated with Yuba River Mainstem rural housing development, logging, and recreation. From the joining of the North and Middle Forks, the Temperature is also a significant water quality Yuba flows southward, then southwest, through the concern in the Yuba River Watershed. Warming Sierra Nevada foothills, forming the Yuba-Nevada water temperatures can be attributed to dams, County border. The river widens into the main arm water diversions, inadequate shading by limited of Englebright Lake near French Bar, and is joined by South Yuba3 riparian canopy, and low instream flows. Yuba River the South Yuba within the reservoir. The Yuba leaves tributaries Deer, Humbug, Kanaka, and Little Deer the Englebright Dam near Lake Wildwood, and is Creeks are listed on the Clean Water Act’s 303(d) list then joined by Deer Creek, the stream flowing from Water Quality of impaired waterbodies along with Englebright and that lake, on the left. The Yuba slows down as it The Yuba River Watershed contains a significant Scotts Flat Reservoirs. Humbug Creek is also listed flows from the mountains out into the Sacramento amount of sediment and mercury as a result for copper, sediment, and zinc. Valley near the Yuba Goldfields, a section of the of hydraulic mining that occurred in the mid to Yuba River valley consisting of dredged sediments late 1900s. Mercury is present in the bottoms washed down by hydraulic mining in the 19th Fish and Wildlife of rivers and reservoirs and is transported by century. The river then turns southwest, flowing erosion processes and can be converted into The Yuba River supports highly valued populations through irrigated farmland. It then skirts the south methylmercury. As methylmercury accumulates of steelhead trout, resident rainbow trout, and side of Marysville and reaches its destination at the in the food chain, it becomes concentrated, so fall-run Chinook salmon, as well as populations of Feather River between the cities of Marysville, Yuba that in larger predatory fish (e.g., trout and bass), other anadromous and resident fish communities.