"Volunteers show up in full force to help revegetate dutch slough "
by Ben Weise

“The day started like any other day. I woke up on the beach on a particularly cold and windy morning and went searching for breakfast. After a bit of searching, I returned to one of my usual haunts at Dutch Slough where I can find a reliable supply of largemouth bass, bluegill, and other fish. As I poked my head above the water, I couldn’t help but notice a large convoy of vehicles full of people who looked ready to work...”
​–Diary entry of a California sea lion, February 29, 2020

On February 29th, 2020, the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District partnered with the Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed, Reclamation District 2137, the City of Oakley, River Partners, and the California Department of Water Resources (CA DWR) to host a planting event at the Dutch Slough Tidal Restoration Project in Oakley, CA. Nearly 100 volunteers planted over 9,000 plugs across the middle levee of the Gilbert parcel and got the unique chance to see a tidal marsh restoration project up close.

The Dutch Slough Tidal Restoration Project began in 2003 when the CA DWR purchased the Emerson, Gilbert, and Burroughs parcels. After saving the property from becoming a housing development, the CA DWR worked with numerous agencies and the public to create a vision and plan for the property as an open space—a tidal marsh area with designed habitats to create a “living laboratory.” After breaking ground in summer 2018, construction began with grading and sculpting the property to provide habitat types ranging from high to low marsh and from tidal wetland to open water. Following the end of construction in late 2019, revegetation began in early 2020 and will be completed (thanks to the help of our volunteers!) in April/May 2020. The CA DWR will maintain the plants and give them time to grow larger and stronger before breaching the levees in 2021, restoring the tidal marsh system that once occupied the area.
Through this project, the CA DWR is helping to restore nearly 1,200 acres of tidal marsh ecosystem that will provide habitat for numerous aquatic, wetland, and upland species, including the California sea lion (like the one that caught a glimpse of the Dutch Slough planting event volunteers). The CA DWR also hopes to see an increase in native fish populations, including salmon, using Dutch Slough as an entry into Marsh Creek for breeding and as rearing habitat where young salmon can grow before returning to the ocean. Exciting things are brewing in east Contra Costa County—with much more to come!

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