WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect wetlands and waters of the United States associated with the Elk River Estuary (planning Area 1) Restoration Project, located through the lower-most reaches of the Elk River mainstem at the downstream end of the Elk River valley and includes 5.3 miles of channel length including Elk River and Swain Slough, to restore beneficial uses of water; improve water quality conditions; reduce nuisance flooding; rehabilitate habitat for focal fish species, including coho salmon, chinook salmon, steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, and tidewater goby; expand riparian habitat; and improve overall ecosystem health in the Elk River. The project is located along the Elk River and Swain Slough at Latitude 40.747745°N and Longitude -124.189293°W; in Eureka, Humboldt County, California.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project area includes the mainstem Elk River from the confluence at Humboldt Bay up to approximately 3.4 miles upstream. The mainstem Elk River downstream of the North Fork and South Fork confluence consists of low-gradient, alluvial channel types with a narrow riparian canopy, transitioning to tidally influenced freshwater, brackish, and tidal slough channels. The project encompasses 5.3 miles of channel length, including Elk River and Swain Slough. The project is is characterized by broad and flat low-elevation marsh plains that are variably protected from tidal inundation by unmaintained earthen dikes, ditches, tide gates and other drainage infrastructure. Eight tide gates currently operate in the project area, several of which are dysfunctional. Prior to land conversion of the Elk River floodplain, Swain Slough, Elk River and their tributaries traversed the valley bottom.
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: To restore aquatic habitat.
Overall: The Project is one phase of a watershed-scale effort to restore beneficial uses of water; improve water quality conditions; reduce nuisance flooding; rehabilitate habitat for focal fish species; expand riparian habitat; and improve overall ecosystem health in the Elk River.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant requests authorization to conduct the following:
1. remove and/or upgrade drainage infrastructure;
2. reduce or remove levees;
3. breach an abandoned railroad grade;
4. restore tidal sloughs and tidal creek channels and their connectivity to mainstem channels;
5. create backwater features for seasonal waterfowl and winter salmonid rearing habitat, primarily for federally-listed coho salmon;
6. manage invasive vegetation; expand native plant communities; and recontour portions of the floodplain to guide winter flood-flows across the floodplain and back into the slough channel network toward suitable aquatic habitat.
The Project Area is divided into 11 subareas that include various restoration elements. Infrastructure removal and replacement and vegetation enhancement and
management would take place within the entire Project Area. Tidal marsh enhancement would include removal of infrastructure that inhibits tidal exchange, restore a full tidal prism, and create spatially complex topography and spatially and temporally complex water quality conditions. Off-channel habitat enhancements in the Upper Spruce, Lower Spruce, Relic Swain, and Lower Swain subareas would expand and enhance freshwater marsh and wetland and mixed riparian forest types by retrofitting tide gates to allow a muted tidal prism into the enhancements, protecting springs with cattle exclusion fencing and reconnecting freshwater water springs to the Elk River and Swain Slough. Mainstem corridor enhancements would take place in the Upper Mainstem of the Elk River. These enhancements include the removal of earthen dikes confining the channel, removing or thinning vegetation along the bank, reconnecting freshwater sources to the mainstem, expanding the riparian corridor to develop a multi-tiered riparian structure, and constructing alcove habitats and augmenting large wood to provide deeper pools, more complex escape cover, and velocity refugia to benefit focal fish species. Floodplain corridor enhancement would restore more natural patterns of inundation and flow direction by reconnecting and maintaining stream and tidal inundation onto floodplains and marsh plains.
Beneficial sediment reuse would take place to support restoration in several subareas as detailed in the Project Description. Sediment would be reused in tidal marshes and riparian wetlands to increase topographic complexity, which supports more diverse aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Sediment would also be repurposed to build eco-levees, enabling the restoration of full tidal prism on lands that are adjacent to agricultural fields, as well as natural shorelines, which provide transitional habitats and gentle gradients to roads.
AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment:
- Environmentally sensitive areas would be flagged or fenced.
- Equipment maintenance and material storage would occur away from water bodies with suitable perimeter control measures, such as silt fences, or straw wattles, placed below all construction activities at the edge of surface water features.
- Where feasible, construction would occur from the top of the stream bank, on a ground protection mat underlain with filter fabric, or a barge.
- Work areas would be confined to designated zones, with speed limits enforced to reduce dust and protect sensitive species.
- Dewatering would be minimized in scope and duration. Fish exclusion nets would be used to prohibit fish from reentering cleared segments. Following restoration, all coffer dams and other temporary structures would be removed carefully to restore natural flow with minimal disturbance.
- Following construction, the contractor would demobilize and remove equipment, supplies, and construction wastes.
- All disturbed areas would be revegetated.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The proposed project is comprised wholly of restoration activities that would result in a net benefit to the ecosystem. Therefore, the proposed project does not require compensatory mitigation.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps is evaluating the undertaking for effects to historic properties as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This public notice serves to inform the public of the proposed undertaking and invites comments including those from local, State, and Federal government Agencies with respect to historic resources. Our final determination relative to historic resource impacts may be subject to additional coordination with the State Historic Preservation Officer, federally recognized tribes and other interested parties.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has performed an initial review of the application, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Section 7 Mapper, and the NMFS Critical Habitat Mapper to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur in the vicinity of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project is likely to adversely affect steelhead - Northern California DPS (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus), chinook salmon- California Coastal ESU (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon- Southern Oregon/Northern California ESU (Oncorhynchus kisutch), tidewater goby (Eucyclogoblus newberryi), and designated critical habitat for these species.
Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402.
This notice serves as request to the Services for any additional information on whether any listed or proposed to be listed endangered or threatened species or critical habitat may be present in the area which would be affected by the proposed activity.
ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT: Pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996, the Corps reviewed the project area, examined information provided by the applicant, and consulted available species information.
The Corps intends to initiate Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultation separately from this public notice. A separate EFH consultation package will be sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Corps will not make a permit decision until the consultation process is complete.
Our final determination relative to project impacts and the need for mitigation measures is subject to review by and coordination with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
NAVIGATION: The Elk River is Navigable in the project upstream to near the uppermost channel extent of the project, upstream of station 25,000 where the bed elevation of the channel is equal to the highest tide on record.
SECTION 408: The applicant does not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part, would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.
WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: Water Quality Certification may be required from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB). The applicant has submitted an application to the NCRWQCB to obtain water quality certification for the project. No Department of the Army permit will be issued until the applicant obtains the required certification or a waiver of certification. A waiver can be explicit, or it may be presumed if the NCRWQCB fails or refuses to act on a complete application for water quality certification within 60 days of receipt, unless the District Engineer determines a shorter or longer period is a reasonable time for the NCRWQCB to act.
NOTE: This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified or evaluated to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. The geographic extent of aquatic resources within the proposed project area that either are, or are presumed to be, within the Corps jurisdiction have been verified by Corps personnel.
EVALUATION: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact including cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered including cumulative impacts thereof; among these are conservation, economics, esthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historical properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food, and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. Evaluation of the impact of the activity on the public interest will also include application of the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator, EPA, under authority of Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act or the criteria established under authority of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.
COMMENTS: The Corps is soliciting comments from the public; federal, state, and local agencies and officials; indian tribes; and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this determination, comments are used to assess impacts to endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.
The San Francisco District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until December 3, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Stephen Ryan at Stephen.Q.Ryan@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, Attention: Stephen Ryan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District Eureka Field Office 601 Startare Dr. Box-13 Eureka, CA 95501. Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.
Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. Requests for a public hearing will be granted, unless the District Engineer determines that the issues raised are insubstantial or there is otherwise no valid interest to be served by a hearing.