SPN-2025-00362 Green Diamond/California Redwood Company-Chip Export Facility Maintenance Dredging

WATERWAY AND LOCATION:  The project would affect the North Bay Channel, associated with Humboldt Bay in Fairhaven, Humboldt County, California, Latitude 40.7984, Longitude -124.1903.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The Green Diamond/California Redwood Company’s (GD/CRC) dock is situated on the Samoa Peninsula, along the western shore of the North Bay Federal Channel in Humboldt Bay, approximately 2.5 miles from the western terminus of the U.S. Highway 255 Bridge. The dock is located at 405 Bay Street, Fairhaven, CA 95564. The site is situated within an area zoned for general industrial use and has adjacent areas of undeveloped land and residences to the south. A tideland parcel owned by the State of California and leased by GD/CRC is located nearshore. The facility includes a single dock with an active berthing area that is 1,300 feet in length. The dock is approximately 700 feet east of the shoreline and abuts the western boundary of the Samoa Federal Channel.     

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic:  To establish safe navigational depths at the Green Diamond/California Redwood Company-Chip Export Facility.

Overall:  The overall project purpose is the dredging and disposal of material from maintenance dredge projects that support navigation in Humboldt Bay consistent with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District’s (Harbor District’s) adopted Long-term Management Strategy (LTMS).

PROPOSED WORK:  As shown in the attached drawings, the applicant plans to remove approximately 10,440 cubic yards (cys) of sediment from the 12.06-acre (approximately) site in an initial episode and a total of 100,000 cys over the life of the permit. The maximum thickness of material planned for dredging in this area is 5 feet

and will extend from -33 feet MLLW to -38 feet MLLW. The Project area has not been previously dredged. The design depth for the facility is -38 feet MLLW plus an additional 2-foot overdredge allowance. The material would be removed using a clamshell or hydraulic dredge and removed by barge to a designated dredged material placement site, permitted beneficial reuse site, the Humboldt Open Ocean Disposal Site (HOODS), or an upland site outside Corps jurisdiction.    

Prior to each dredging episode, the Dredge Material Management Office (DMMO) will evaluate the sediments to be dredged for disposal or reuse suitability. The DMMO includes representatives from the Corps, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). The DMMO is tasked with approving sampling and analysis plans in conformity with testing manuals, reviewing the test results and reaching consensus regarding a suitable disposition for the material.  

AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment: The proposed maintenance dredging would not result in a permanent loss of waters of the United States. Temporary impacts to aquatic resources would be mitigated by proposed minimization and avoidance measures, including the use of silt curtains and conducting work only within the permitted environmental work windows. Therefore, no compensatory mitigation is proposed or required. 

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. Because the project is located immediately adjacent to an established federal navigation channel that is routinely maintained for safe vessel passage, the presence of intact historic or archaeological resources within the project area is unlikely. If unrecorded archaeological resources are discovered during project implementation, those operations affecting such resources will be temporarily suspended until the Corps concludes Section 106 consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer or the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer to take into account any project related impacts to those resources

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) West Coast Section 7 Mapper, the NMFS ESA Critical Habitat Mapper, and the NMFS Essential Fish Habitat Mapper to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur within the boundary of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project following federally-listed species and designated critical habitat are present at the project location or in its vicinity, and may be affected by project implementation.

Table 1: ESA-listed species and/or critical habitat potentially present in the action area.

Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402. If a permit is issued for this proposed project, it will contain a condition that dredging is allowed only within appropriate environmental work windows. Programmatic biological opinions (BOs) were issued by USFWS (March 12, 1999, February 7, 2025) and NMFS (July 9, 2015) for the LTMS. As a result of the BOs there are allowable time frames to dredge to protect the habitat for threatened (and endangered) species and the species themselves per Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.  If the dredge work is conducted within those time frames, consultation may not be needed.    

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 has made a preliminary determination that EFH is present at the project location or in its vicinity, and that the critical elements of EFH may be adversely affected by project implementation. The proposed project is located within an area managed under the Pacific Groundfish, the Coastal Pelagic and/or the Pacific Coast Salmon FMPs.

The Corps and NMFS completed a programmatic EFH consultation on June 9, 2011, for maintenance dredging. One of NMFS’s key concerns with dredging is potential impacts to eelgrass beds. The “Baywide Eelgrass Inventory of San Francisco Bay,” prepared by Merkel and Associates, dated October 2004, shows eelgrass beds within 250 or 45 meters of the site. Therefore, the applicant would be required to deploy silt curtains in order to minimize adverse effects upon eelgrass from turbidity created from the disturbance of sediment during dredging operations. A silt curtain deployment plan would be required by the Corps prior to any dredging episode. Additionally, a pre-dredge and post-dredge survey would be completed to determine impacts to eelgrass within 45 meters of the project boundary.

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: Based on the location information provided by the applicant, the dredge area is the length of the dock (1,300 ft) located approximately 700 feet east of the shoreline and abuts the western boundary of the Samoa Federal Channel.

SECTION 408: The applicant will not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (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 California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region, 5550 Skylane Boulevard, Suite A, Santa Rosa, California 95403.

COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT: The applicant must obtain a Consistency Certification that indicates the activity conforms with the state’s coastal zone management program from the California Coastal Commission, North Coast District Office, 710 E Street, Suite 200, Eureka, California 95501.

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 has 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 11 January 2026. Comments should be submitted to Sarah West at dll-spn-dmmo@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, Attention: DMMO, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, California 94102-3404. 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.