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15. Partnerships for Native Land Management: Cache Creek Conservancy Tending and Gathering Garden (California)
- University of Arizona Press
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15 Partnerships for Native Land Management Cache Creek Conservancy Tending and Gathering Garden (California) The Cache Creek Conservancy (hereafter, the Conservancy) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1995 by a group of citizens that sought to promote restoration and improve the riparian corridor along Cache Creek. The creation of the Conservancy represents a long-awaited compromise between industrial, farming, environmental, and other factions, each with a strong interest in the health and productivity of the creek. Restoring Cache Creek Cache Creek begins in Clear Lake and flows through Lake and Colusa counties in California before traversing the agricultural Capay Valley in Yolo County. The lower reach of the Cache Creek channel was heavily mined in the 1970s and 1980s for aggregate—sand and gravel used in concrete and industrial construction. “Gravel wars” ensued between local stakeholders (including the miners) with an interest in the creek channel. “Competing interests and values . . . created fissures in the community,” explained Conservancy Tending and Gathering Garden Steering Committee member Jacquelyn Ross (Pomo, Coast Miwok).1 As Conservancy Executive Director Lynnel Pollock pointed out, efforts to remove mining from the creek channel had been ongoing for nearly twenty years, and “all partners realized that more needed to be done.”2 196 TRIBES AND LAND TRUSTS In 1994, the leadership of Yolo County began to develop a plan that would balance mining with environmental and habitat values in the creek channel. In 1995 and 1996, the aggregate mining companies working along Cache Creek, the county, and other stakeholders were invited to participate in a process to develop a Cache Creek Area Plan. In 1996, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors adopted the plan, which has two components—the Off-Channel Mining Plan and the Cache Creek Resource Management Plan (CCRMP). The Off-Channel Mining Plan took aggregate mining out of the creek channel and instituted a mechanism whereby the industrial mining companies would provide funds for reclamation and restoration along the riparian corridor.3 The CCRMP focuses on restoring that corridor, which includes the Jan T. Lowrey Cache Creek Nature Preserve. To support its infrastructure, projects, and programs, the nonprofit Cache Creek Conservancy relies on grants and other funding in addition to the amount it receives through the CCRMP. The county, local private landowners, and other parties were concerned about who would oversee the restoration and management. Most of the land along the 14-mile corridor covered by the Resource Management Plan was privately owned, and it was unclear how landowners would become involved. As Ross and her coauthors describe: “The Conservancy was created as a vehicle for implementation of the Cache Creek Resource Management Plan. . . . [It] was the first organization in living memory dedicated to restoration of Cache Creek’s riparian corridor in the area historically mined for gravel. Its mission is to promote the restoration, enhancement, and prudent management of the stream environment along Cache Creek.”4 The Conservancy served as a bridge between landowners, the aggregate industry, and county government, all of which are represented on the Conservancy ’s board of directors. The Conservancy developed and strengthened existing relationships with private landowners along the creek and has built a positive reputation for doing quality restoration projects that enhance habitat while simultaneously respecting landowners’ values. Jan T. Lowrey Cache Creek Nature Preserve In 1999, the Teichert Land Company, one of the aggregate mining operations operating along the creek, donated 130 acres of upland and riparian land to Yolo County to establish the Cache Creek Nature Preserve, now the Jan T. Lowrey Cache Creek Nature Preserve, for habitat protection and preservation. Teichert specified that the land was to be managed by the Conservancy for habitat conservation, and the Conservancy created a [54.227.104.229] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:43 GMT) Native Land Management Partnerships 197 separate agreement with Yolo County to establish the former’s land management role. The entire 130-acre parcel is covered by a conservation easement, which is held by the Conservancy, with Yolo County as the landowner. The Conservancy was not initially going to hold easements, but as a nonprofit, they were in the best position to do so. Yolo County, Teichert, and the Conservancy discussed options for other easement holders, including the Department of Fish and Game, which would have involved an additional layer of bureaucracy. “As an organization, holding easements is not our primary purpose,” explained Conservancy Executive Director and former Yolo County Supervisor Lynnel Pollock. “We do restoration work.”5 The Conservancy’s programs on the...