A board overseeing Fairfax County’s wetlands has ordered an Alexandria-area man to tear out a newly built bulkhead that jutted into a protected area of Little Hunting Creek.

The costly mandate demonstrated the county’s unwillingness to allow encroachment into its wetlands, in this case an 155-foot-long barrier that ran along a stretch of the Potomac tributary in southern Fairfax. The seven-member board on Thursday night ordered Jason Matteo, who had the bulkhead built in spring of 2006 without a permit, to restore the area by June1. And they rejected his request for a retroactive permit.