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About Us

Restore/Restory explores the history of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve through the voices, views, images and experiences of a wide range of Yolo County residents.  The project tells the story of California’s rich cultural and environmental heritage and builds connections between people and the place they call home.

The transmedia project involved over 200 people in a collaborative effort to chronicle our diverse and changing demographics, traditions, and relationships with the land. University students and community members worked with media artist jesikah maria ross to collect hundreds of audio recordings, photographs, and documents.   In collaboration with an advisory group, ross crafted the collection into the storymap, digital murals, audio tour, and historical timeline featured on this website. The artist then orchestrated a series of chautaquas: participatory rural arts events where audiences engaged with the the stories, the land, and each other.  ross also created a site-based audio tour, including the maps, wayfaring signage, and audio devices. In this way, users can experience the stories online, at the Preserve, or together at public events.

In many ways, the Cache Creek Nature Preserve is a microcosm of California and in telling its story we are revealing the larger story of California's peoples, conflicts, and realities.

Restore/Restory was produced and directed by media artist jesikah maria ross and created in collaboration with the UC Davis Art of Regional Change and the Cache Creek Conservancy. The project aims to forge a shared "sense of place" that leads to just and sustainable stewardship of our natural and cultural resources.

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