Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Nears Completion

With over 500 supporters watching, the Giacomini Wetlands were created this past Sunday on 560 acres of former pasture lands that had been diked for over 60 years. They watched as the high tide filled the areas restored for future wetlands. 

On the preceding day, contractor Hanford ARC, the NPS, and the Point Reyes National Seashore Association (PRNSA) staff worked late in the afternoon to remove the final levees that would allow flooding during subsequent high tides. Almost immediately, shorebirds, geese, harbor seals, egrets, and herons began using the newly restored wetlands.

The Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Project conducted by Point Reyes National Seashore (and PRNSA) is reestablishing hydrologic processes and reconnecting floodwaters with floodplains in more than 560 acres at the head of Tomales Bay. This project will improve water quality in the Bay, since anything carried by floodwaters will now be deposited on floodplains in the Giacomini Wetlands. Before entering the bay, pollutants will be partially filtered out by the salt, brackish, and freshwater marsh communities that will re-establish in the area in coming years.

"This project is one of the most exciting and meaningful restoration efforts that we have ever observed,” said Neysa King, watershed coordinator for the Tomales Bay Watershed Council. “Not only will the project restore a significant amount of tidal wetlands along Tomales Bay, but also we will be able to watch the changes that ensue as human-created structures are removed, and the waters of the bay and creeks reclaim their natural areas.”

The project will result in a substantial increase in habitat for marine, estuarine, and freshwater wildlife species, including endangered or threatened species and species of concern such as the coho salmon, steelhead trout, green sturgeon, tidewater goby, California clapper rail, black rail, common yellowthroat, and southwestern river otter. The wetlands will also provide important habitat to migratory waterfowl and shorebirds and nursery and foraging habitat for species such as seals, sharks, and rays that are typically found in the outer portions of Tomales Bay.

Another benefit from the project is that increased floodwater retention on the Giacomini Wetlands floodplains may result in a significant decrease in flooding of the county road and private homes along the southern perimeter of the project area. Since 2000, PRNSA , a non-profit organization that provides support to the seashore, has raised more than $6.2 million of the $12.0 million needed for the project.  California Department of Transportation mitigation funds provided another $4.2 million.  Other funding sources included The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Watershed Council of the State of California Water Control Board (Prop 50), State of California Wildlife Conservation Board, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Northern California Restoration Grant.

“The ecological effects of this project will be felt for many, many years to come,” said King. “The very hard work of the Point Reyes National Seashore and its Association will reap rewards for us all that will include a richer and wilder future ahead.”