About Us, our History, and Board of Directors

  The Cache Creek Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1996 and dedicated to creek restoration, preservation, and education. The focus of the Conservancy’s work has been riparian restoration along a fourteen mile stretch of Cache Creek covered by Yolo County’s Cache Creek Resources Management Plan.  The Conservancy also manages the Jan T. Lowrey Cache Creek Nature Preserve, a 122-acre complex of riparian, upland, and wetland habitats.  This serves as the site for our environmental education program in which approximately 2,500 elementary students per year participate in learning about the environment.  The Conservancy is governed by a 15-member Board of Directors and has a 6-member staff. 

The Cache Creek Conservancy was formed in 1995 by individuals representing a broad spectrum of interests throughout the region. Individuals and groups representing the environment, government agencies, landowners, agriculture, and industries supported and were involved in Conservancy efforts. These people understood the need for a project-oriented environmental organization to focus on the previously mined stretches of Cache Creek. 

In February, 1996 the organization officially became a nonprofit, public benefit corporation with primary goals to implement projects, provide environmental education, hold conservation easements, and manage land for wildlife habitat. Funding was provided by voluntary support from the four major mining companies operating on Cache Creek who agreed to contribute five cents per ton of gravel sold. 

In the same time frame, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors adopted the Cache Creek Area Plan in late 1996. Within the framework of this Plan, the aggregate industry support for the Conservancy was memorialized. The Conservancy has continued to receive quarterly payments directly from the producers to the present. Additional funding over the years has come from grants, contract work, and your generous donations.

2018 Board of Directors

Jeanette Wrysinski – Chair – Yolo County Resource Conservation District

Adam Borchard - Vice-Chair- Association of California Water Agencies

Mary Ann Warmerdam – Treasurer- Rural County Representatives of Northern California

Don Hallberg – Secretary – VanWrite Writing Consultants, LLC

Sally Barrett – Landscape Designer

Frank Goddard – Landowner

Toby Goyette – Member-at-Large

Debbie Haldeman - CEMEX

Nicole Rogers - Nugget Market Inc.

Jason Smith - Teichert Industries

Meg Stallard - Educator

Bert Swartz - Syar Industries

Karen Dumars - Educator 

Kathleen Stock - Landowner