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Restoration of Pacheco Marsh

In partnership with the Contra Costa County Flood Control District and the East Bay Regional Park District, JMLT is restoring the wildlife habitat and wetland activity of Pacheco Marsh. The marsh is located just east of Martinez where Lower Walnut Creek meets the Suisun Bay, and it is home to ten special-status plant and animal species, including the salt-marsh harvest mouse and the California black rail.

The marsh’s hydrologic conditions have been degraded through years of human alterations to the surrounding landscape. To help Pacheco Marsh bounce back, we will revitalize its natural nutrients and biological connectivity through soil quality rehabilitation and levee lowering along the southwest boundary. Soon, this will once again be a thriving wetland, home to native plants, threatened animals, and visitors alike.

Salt-marsh harvest mouse

The Salt-marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris)

HOW

  • Restoration of the Lower Walnut Creek watershed to ensure ecologically sound infrastructure
  • Recreation of tidal marsh habitat
  • Limited planting
  • Reducing de-silting costs
  • Connections to the Delta DeAnza Trail and the Iron Horse Trail
  • Adjusting channel levees to provide capacity for floodwaters
  • Marsh-plain excavation
  • Limited on-site disposal of material
  • Channel excavation and enlargement to lower elevations that will support marsh habitat
  • Installation of new culverts for water redirection

The industrial inclinations of the 19th and 20th centuries caused the extent of the marsh lands to be reduced by at least 40%.

 

WHY

  • Replenishing of nutrients and ecosystems
  • Informational and recreational opportunities for school district and the public
  • Improvement in groundwater and stormwater quality
  • Flood protection
 

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