Even with the huge crowds over Memorial Day weekend, there were no major issues reported on the South Yuba River, including no rescues. SYRCL’s Community Engagement Manager, Daniel Belshe, says it also helped to have volunteers and river ambassadors available again. The pandemic suspended the program a year ago. So this year he says they had around two-thousand informational interactions with visitors, with most getting bandanas with a map of the river. That helps, when google mapping was often not available, with a lack of cell phone service in the canyon. But the focus was as much on fire safety as river safety…

click to listen to Daniel Belshe

While most visitors were from Sacramento, the Bay Area, and Reno, SYRCL reports they also talked to people from Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as places much further away. That included Wisconsin and Toronto. Belshe says the resumption of their river cohort program also helped maintain more cleanliness around the river…

click to listen to Daniel Belshe

Belshe says Sunday was the most crowded. But he says almost every day looked like Memorial Day last year, when even more people used the river because the pandemic greatly limited other leisure options, especially indoors.