Pacheco Marsh gets rave reviews during sneak peak opening

‘Helps remind an ever-increasing number of nearby urban dwellers to respect and cherish the nature all around us’

A possible harbinger of good things coming appeared early Friday morning, just before the newly restored Pacheco Marsh had its soft opening for invited guests.

John Muir Land Trust stewardship director James Wilson pulled into the new parking lot around 7 a.m. and couldn’t believe his eyes.

Out of some nearby brush popped a long-tailed weasel, a species never officially spotted in the 247-acre salt marsh just southeast of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge.

“He jumped out and ran to the center of the parking lot and pranced around a bit, until some birds chased him back,” Wilson said. “It was the first confirmed sighting of a long-tailed weasel at the site.”

Wilson said there was a bigger point than just seeing a cute mammal run around. 

“Knowing restoration is doing its part is evident in the animals you see,” said Wilson, who later warned drivers of rabbits in the lot and saw a coyote Thursday while setting up for the big unveiling. “It’s a great sign.”

Saturday was when Pacheco Marsh officially opened to the public, but Friday was for donors, elected officials, workers, and partner agencies to celebrate an effort decades in the making.

A thriving salt marsh until 19th-century industrialization turned it into a dumping ground, plans to return the area to its natural state began in the early 2000s. Contra Costa County allocated more than $11 million in early 2021 to the Lower Walnut Creek Restoration Project, the largest public works project in county history (Walnut Creek, the waterway, borders the marsh to the east).

“Pacheco Marsh, after years of neglect, really, obviously, needed our help and needed to be restored,” said Stephanie Baker, the chairperson of the John Muir Land Trust conservation organization.

Contra Costa County bought 122 acres of the marsh in 2003 from a towing company that planned a junkyard there. The nearby Marathon oil refinery bought another 18 adjacent acres formerly used for sand mining and donated it to the land trust in 2020.

More land was purchased and donated while the county did much of the heavy lifting in cleaning up and engineering the area, including digging a network of channels and bringing in more than 30,000 native plants. The final levee was breached in late 2021 and water flowed again.

The land trust took it from there, managing the site, raising about $9 million for miles of trails, elevated bird-watching spots, three bridges spanning the new channels, a kayak launch, restrooms, and a pavilion near the entrance. And continuous upkeep moving forward.

John Muir Land Trust Executive Director Linus Eukel told about 150 people gathered for the ribbon-cutting that protecting land means protecting cherished human values.

“Pacheco Marsh helps remind an ever-increasing number of nearby urban dwellers to respect and cherish the nature all around us, a fact crucial to helping raise children that will care for a world that sustains us all,” Eukel said.

Eukel also warned about outside forces interfering with environmental conservation.

“Most of our greatest conservation achievements throughout modern American history were passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,” Eukel said. “We all suffer from this change in our politics, and in my view, it is little short of a national disaster for the environment to look as if it is somehow a one-party issue. It is also very far indeed from being an accurate reflection of core American values.”

Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia has been on the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority since it was formed in 2008. The group became a major mover in funding wetland restoration around the Bay Area.

“It’s really amazing to be here,” Gioia said. “We’re in the largest watershed in Contra Costa County, which joins the largest estuary on the West Coast. Think about that. That’s pretty historic.”

Gioia said the region has overwhelmingly supported wetlands projects since a study in the mid-2000s showed 90% of the area’s historic tidal wetlands were lost over the previous 150 years. The restoration authority helped craft regional ballot Measure AA in 2016 to raise half a billion dollars over 20 years to restore wetlands and improve access and the health of the Bay.

“And 70% of the voters in the San Francisco Bay Area and all nine counties voted for Measure AA,” Gioia said. “I think you can give all of yourselves a hand for that.”

Just over the hill from the Al McNabney Marsh — across Interstate 680 from the Martinez Refinery Company — Pacheco Marsh is where Contra Costa County’s largest watershed drains more than 150 square miles from eight cities.

The goal wasn’t just creating a family-friendly recreation area. The project has enhanced the area’s flood-carrying capacity as well as taken some of the area’s strain from sea level rise.

Paul Detjens was the project manager for the Contra Costa Flood Control and Water Conservation District until the land trust took over. Since retired, he returned Friday to see how things turned out.

“I liken it to our work with the flood control district was building the cupcake and now the land trust comes in with the frosting and the sprinkles, all the fun stuff that you see, but it really can’t exist without the cupcake,” Detjens said. “I’m super pleased, though, with all the amenities that are out here. And I purposely haven’t come out in the last couple of months because I wanted to experience all of the benches and the pavilion and the parking lot for the first time.”

The marsh is home to 10 special-status plant and animal species, including the salt marsh harvest mouse and the black rail — rarely-seen and on the list of avid birdwatchers. Nutrients and biological connectivity are being restored through soil quality rehabilitation.

There’s parking and easy access to the area, the land trust said.

Pacheco Marsh is at 2501 Waterfront Road in Martinez and held its opening day on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until dusk. To find out more, visit John Muir Land Trust at jmlt.org.

— Story by Tony Hicks, Bay City News Service