Shawn Garvey, former executive director of the South Yuba River Citizens League, has a professional connection to Nevada County's preeminent waterway.

But he also has a personal bond.

Garvey lives near Jones Bar, and his family's proximity to the river has resulted in routine excursions to the Bridgeport area.

“There's a particular experience of walking across that bridge,” Garvey said of the covered bridge, set to celebrate its 150th birthday in 2012, that spans the waterway. “There is the smell of the wood and tar, the sound of feet on the wood as you can barely hear people below along the river.

“You walk through this dark tunnel that comes out to light and my kids would stop at the windows and drop twigs and leaves,” he said.

Garvey's attachment to the geographical area is indicative of many local residents' strong link with the river and its tree-covered banks.

“The South Yuba River is the backbone of our community,” he said.

Some people use the state parks as a recreational playground, swimming, hiking or climbing on the smooth gray granite that has been carved by the powerful waterway.

Others use it as a place to go to gain peace of mind, a place to relax and commune with nature's operations.

Whatever the reason, the unique charm of the state park areas attract about 600,000 to 1 million visitors each year, Garvey said.

“Look at this,” he said as he negotiated the slick boulders that line the river near the Highway 49 Bridge. “There's no garbage anywhere.”

Garvey said he is concerned that if the state attempts to “close” the South Yuba River State Park, that it will become overrun with people who are not interested in stewardship, clean-up projects and salmon restoration.

“It's like the broken window theory,” said Garvey, who said once the first window is broken in an abandoned house, the rest follow and soon the entire property degrades into disrepair.

Another issue, Garvey said, is the loss of hundreds of thousands of community volunteer hours that went toward establishing each segment of the park system.

“Each of these public holdings has a book worth of stories behind their preservation,” Garvey said.

Garvey said that the Edwards Crossing portion of the park was preserved from clear cutting by a group of zealous teenagers that engaged in the tree-sitting protests made famous by activists in Humboldt County in 2003.

“The state purchased that land because a group of 18-year-olds spent the summer sleeping in trees,” he said.

Garvey said people need to demand the state fulfill its responsibility as the appointed steward of valuable public lands.

“A few days ago, my daughter and I walked down to Bridgeport and saw the bridge surrounded by a chain-link fence and razor wire,” Garvey said.

“We talked about losing that part of our family tradition and she walked down to the river by herself and cried. I promised her I would not stop fighting and that I wouldn't let the river close.”

The Town Hall

The next step in the local movement to prevent the South Yuba River and Malakoff Diggins state parks from being shuttered happens Monday.

SYRCL will co-host a town hall meeting to garner commentary from residents and inform them how they can take action to remove the two state parks from a closure list of 70 parks complied by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

“We will not stand by and allow these treasured parks to be abandoned by the state,” said Caleb Dardick, SYRCL's executive director, in a press release. “SYRCL is co-sponsoring this Town Hall to rally parks supporters to take action: Write the Governor and ask your state and county elected representatives to make saving the parks a priority.

“Years ago, the community rallied behind SYRCL's motto that ‘People Can Save a River' and won Wild and Scenic protection for the South Yuba River. Today, we'll show how by working together, ‘People Can Save the Parks.'”

The meeting will be broadcast live on KVMR 89.5 and is co-sponsored by Yubanet.com and the Miners Foundry.

For more information call (530) 265-5961 or visit www.yubariver.org.

To contact Staff Writer Matthew Renda, call (530) 477-4239 or e-mail mrenda@theunion.com.