Bear Yuba Watershed Defense Fund

The Bear Yuba Watershed Defense Fund is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, project-based organization founded to legally represent and defend the surrounding environments of riparian ecosystems and the relative human interests within the Bear and Yuba River watersheds. Wildlife needs its ecosystem to be legally defended before it is irreparably destroyed. Riparian ecosystems, the interface between streams or rivers and the land, are especially vulnerable. Watersheds, the area between mountain crests where precipitation drainage converges, start at high altitudes in small streams gathering together into larger rivers as the water descends in altitude toward the mountain’s base. The Bear and Yuba watersheds cover most of Nevada County, and some of Placer, Yuba, and Sierra counties.

BYWDF’s founding project is to stop Nevada County from issuing a mining permit without having an Environmental Impact Report in place. To date, BYWDF has halted forward momentum by filing a lawsuit on June 3, 2015 against Nevada County for its April 28, 2015 Board of Supervisor’s decision to approve the Blue Lead Mine project without an Environmental Impact Report completed. It is BYWDF’s opinion that the county acted as the lead agency violating California Environmental Quality Act, a California state environmental law, by not properly addressing water quality issues due to the presence of mercury on the Blue Lead Mine site, a known legacy hydraulic mine.

BYWDF strongly objects to this blatant disregard for human safety and quality of life, as well as for the further destruction of an already environmentally fragile riparian ecosystem within the Bear River watershed and to those downstream. The Bear and Yuba River watersheds must be legally protected if people and riparian wildlife are to continue living here safely.

Nevada County permitted the Blue Lead Mine as a twenty year, open-pit gold mining operation located approximately seven miles east of Nevada City and adjacent to Greenhorn Creek, within the Bear River watershed. The gold extraction will involve 65 acres, an estimated 4.5 million cubic yards of mineral material, being ripped down to bedrock, and transported to an on-site processing plant where jaw crushers will be used to break up cemented gravels; jigs will wash and classify gravels while recovering gold using 625,000 gallons of water daily. All remaining black sands will be stored in drums for offsite delivery to a refiner. The waste rock will be returned to the extraction area for backfilling and reclamation. The Blue Lead Mine project will not only harm the existing ecosystem, it will ruin the quiet enjoyment of neighboring properties for miles and potentially drain surrounding wells during a historic drought.

The area of the Blue Lead Mine was historically hydraulically mined (late 1880s until mid-1940s) contaminating the soil with mercury, arsenic, and other hazardous heavy metals. According to an U.S. Geological Survey November 2005 article, 8 million pounds of mercury remain to this day dispersed throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountains from historic mining activities. Unfortunately, most Nevada County residents depend solely on well-water which is subject to contamination if changes occur in their well’s groundwater supply. The Blue Lead Mine project in its current form utterly fails to protect community groundwater wells. Thus, the need for following CEQA protocol is an essential requirement on every county approved project.

At this time BYWDF needs donations from sympathetic individuals, corporate supporters, and pro-environmental organizations. BYWDF is seeking $10,000 to continue funding our legal dispute against Nevada County for permitting the Blue Lead Mine in its current form. Professional hydrologic testing to find pre-existing mercury, arsenic, and other toxic heavy metals may cost thousands of dollars, but are necessary to protect the community.

Please know monetary contributions in any amount are gratefully collected and appreciated. Even minor donations help greatly when a community supports an organization; all those seemingly small gifts remind us our work is important and meaningful. Please share our message with anyone you feel would be interested in hearing about our cause. Volunteers donating their time, services, and expertise are welcomed. We are currently seeking additional Board members.

Please take action today,

Bear Yuba Watershed Defense Fund Board Members

If you hear of a project, mining or otherwise, that adversely affects the Bear or Yuba watersheds, BYWDF wants to know about it. Please share the information with us.