PROJECT LOCATION AND Description

Crescent City Harbor is located on the northern coast of California, approximately 350 miles north of San Francisco. The Harbor is a shallow draft, critical harbor of refuge that supports a Coast Guard search-and-rescue station, commercial and sport fishing, and recreational boating. The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) schedule provides for annual inspection and periodic repair of the Outer and Inner Breakwaters, as well as a five-year cycle for maintenance dredging of the Entrance Channel to a depth of -20 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW), and the Inner Harbor Basin and Marina Access Channels to a depth of -15 feet MLLW. The Entrance Channel and the Inner Harbor Basin Channel were last dredged in FY24. The Marina Access Channel was last dredged in FY24.

FY26 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Updates in progress. Check back soon for more information.

FY 25 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Best management practices implemented on the Corps-owned breakwater to assist the Crescent City community with keeping the public safe.

FY 24 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Dredging of the Entrance Channel, Inner Harbor Basin, and Marina Access Channel. 
• Environmental approvals and sediment suitability testing.

ISSUES AND OTHER INFORMATION

• The Crescent City Harbor District is the Non-Federal Sponsor (NFS).
• Inspections of inner and outer breakwaters and sand barrier occur annually.
• The NFS is to maintain the adjacent upland disposal pond for local marina maintenance dredging material, and the Corps may use it for Marina Access Channel maintenance dredging material (Project Cooperation Agreement 27 June 2000). The site is currently filled to capacity, and Harbor Master coordinating with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for approval to use the material for elevating adjacent office buildings and RV pads for sea-level rise.
• The Selected NED Plan for Operation and Maintenance of the Federal Channel was a nearby ocean site and Whaler Island for qualifying sand material. However, the nearest ocean site, SF-1, has been decommissioned and the next nearest is Humboldt Open Ocean Disposal Site. There is a lack of nearby ocean sites and significant environmental coordination is needed to find and establish any new upland site.

CONGRESSIONAL INTEREST

• 2nd District, Rep. Jared Huffman

POINT OF CONTACT

• Deputy for Project Management, Thomas R. Williams, 415-503-6560

Updated on 20 February 2026

Click Map to Zoom In