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Point Reyes National Seashore The site of the Giacomini Wetlands before the dikes were breached. © Robert Campbell
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Point Reyes National Seashore
Giacomini Wetland Restoration Project: Summary of Construction Under Phase I and II: Repairing the Levees Necessary Before Removal
 
The first step toward removing the levees actually involved repairing them. On July 2, the high tides caused a breach in the East Pasture that filled the northern portion of the carefully-dried pasture with water.
 
Breach in levee caused by high tides on the evening of July 2, 2008.
Breach in levee caused by high tides on the evening of July 2, 2008.
 
Flooded East Pasture

Flooded East Pasture

The levee breach caused the entire northern portion of the East Pasture to fill up with water. This happened only a few days before construction was scheduled to start. The Park Service had been carefully drying to ensure that the site dried—and remained dry—prior to construction.

However, water isn't the only thing that came in with the tide. When fisheries biologists went out into the East Pasture the next day, they noticed that the tides had brought in all sorts of creatures, including leopard sharks and bat rays.

 
Leopard shark (left) and bat ray (right)
Leopard shark (left) and bat ray (right)
 
An emergency rescue operation involving, at points, up to 20–25 people was conducted that day to capture the sharks using nets and to transport them to the creek and release them.
 
Biologists Michael Reichmuth and Sarah Minnick (left) capture sharks from the East Pasture after accidental levee breach for release into Lagunitas Creek (right).
Biologists Michael Reichmuth and Sarah Minnick (left) capture sharks from the East Pasture after accidental levee breach for release into Lagunitas Creek (right).
 

In addition, the contractor mobilized equipment within hours to fix the breach that day, working well into the evening hours to ensure that no further animals became entrained by the levees.

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Tule Elk

Did You Know?
In the mid-1800s, the tule elk was hunted to the brink of extinction. The last surviving tule elk were discovered and protected in the southern San Joaquin Valley in 1874. In 1978, ten tule elk were reintroduced to Point Reyes, which now has one of California's largest populations, numbering ~500.
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Last Updated: October 30, 2011 at 16:28 MST