The Cache Creek Conservancy has officially won the 2026 Impact100 Greater Sacramento Environmental Grant.
According to a press release, this major award secures $100,000 in transformational funding for the organization to establish a regional propagation infrastructure project. This year’s awards, totaling $500,000 across five distinct focus areas, represent the largest collective grant cycle in Impact100 Greater Sacramento’s history.
“We are incredibly honored to receive this support from the members of Impact100,” said Sheila Pratt, executive director of the Cache Creek Conservancy. “This funding allows us to build a dedicated native seed and plant propagation hub, which will protect the genetic integrity of local ecotypes for crucial restoration work across our entire watershed.”
The Cache Creek Conservancy, founded in 1995, serves as a primary habitat-restoration partner for the Cache Creek Area Plan under Yolo County’s general plan. The non-profit manages the 130-acre Cache Creek Nature Preserve, protecting a 14-mile stretch of the Lower Cache Creek ecosystem.
The newly funded Propagation Hub will solve a critical supply chain crisis in local conservation. Following the recent closure of the Putah Creek Council nursery, regional restoration organizations were left without a steady, reliable supply of native plants. Partner groups have increasingly struggled to fill this ecological gap.
The hub’s primary goal is to harvest seeds from verified local sites and maintain strict tracking. This ensures that restoration projects receive plants genetically adapted to thrive in the Cache Creek ecosystem.
“You can plant a thousand native seedlings and still fail if they came from the wrong environmental climate,” Pratt explained. “A seed’s genetic origin is not a technicality. It is the absolute difference between a habitat restoration project that survives its first dry summer and one that does not.”
The $100,000 grant will directly fund the purchase and installation of a 34-by-48-foot hoop house, nursery tables, stainless-steel workbenches, irrigation systems, propagation supplies, site graveling, and a commercial steam generator for clean soil treatment. It will also support a portion of the restoration manager’s salary.
Once fully operational, the system’s unique commercial steam sanitization system will be the only unit of its kind within an 85-mile radius, allowing the hub to rent out the equipment to generate self-sustaining revenue.
Additionally, the hub will serve as a training ground for the local conservation workforce, offering student interns hands-on experience in irrigation technology, seed pathology, and non-profit management. Residents will also be able to visit the preserve to gather seeds and knowledge to start native pocket gardens at home.
“This project is a perfect example of vital environmental infrastructure,” said Ellen Mallory, chairwoman of the Environment Focus Group for Impact100 Greater Sacramento. “Every major restoration project in this watershed depends on a reliable source of the right plants. The Cache Creek Conservancy stepped forward with a sustainable, long-term plan to be that source, and our members voted enthusiastically to fund it.”
To learn more about the project or to get involved with upcoming volunteer community workdays, visit www.cachecreekconservancy.org.