Cultural Resource Inventory Report: Fisherman’s Channel Dredging and Beneficial Reuse Pilot Project

Location: Humboldt County, California
Client: Army Corps of Engineers

CH2M directly requested DZC to conduct a cultural resources inventory for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District’s (Harbor District) Fisherman’s Channel Dredging and Beneficial Reuse Pilot Project (Project) in King Salmon and Fields Landing, California. This project required a permit from the Harbor District and the Army Corp of Engineers, for activity below the high tide line of Humboldt Bay. The Harbor District was the Lead Agency. CH2M contracted with DZC Archaeology & Cultural Resource Management (DZC) to identify cultural resources within the project area and evaluate the project’s potential effects on significant cultural resources. Resources and recommended mitigation measures are identified in this Cultural Resource Inventory Report (CRIR), which was prepared by Dimitra Zalarvis-Chase, RPA. The work was conducted in support of compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The purpose of the project was to remove accumulated sediments from the Fisherman’s Channel, a marine access canal stemming from the community of King Salmon to Humboldt Bay, to improve navigation. The project employed a cutter-head suction dredge to remove 4,150 cubic yards of accumulated sediments and transport the slurry through a temporary, aboveground pipeline for approximately three miles to the White Slough Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). At the Refuge the sediments were used to enhance wetland restoration efforts under the administration of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Subsurface disturbance was limited to the marine portion of the Project.

To identify and evaluate additional cultural resources, DZC conducted a survey of the entire APE. Having written her Masters Thesis on the Wiyot territory, the PI was intimately familiar with the shell-mound and prehistoric resources of Humboldt Bay. Two precontact shell-mounds, which had not been located since 1913, were recorded, both of which contained faunal remains and lithic tools. Subsequently, DZC defined two Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA’s) within the APE and prescribed Cultural Resource Mitigation Measures (CUL-#) to protect the resources and support project compliance and completion. This was an unsolicited contract award