Friday April 25th the Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project’s outboard levee channel was breached completing construction of the 998 acre project. With a few scoops from the bucket of an excavator the wetland was open to tidal action from the San Francisco Bay.
The restored wetland, over a decade in the making, will provide valuable habitat for waterfowl, fish, native plants and animals including the endangered California Clapper Rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse.
The project is a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State Coastal Conservancy and allowed for the beneficial reuse of 5.6 million cubic yards of clean dredge material taken from the Port of Oakland 50’ Deepening Project.
“This project marks a significant move to restore the Wetlands of San Francisco Bay,” said Lt. Col. John Baker. “We were able to combine the deepening of the Port of Oakland with this project in what has been a tremendous pairing of mutually supporting missions.”
With construction complete, the next phase of the project involves planting native plant species and monitoring the success of the restoration for use on future wetland restoration projects.