Location:

275 miles (360 km) north of San Francisco, California
140 miles (225 km) south of Port Orford, Oregon

Watershed: 225 square miles

Sub-basins: Mad River, Janes Creek (incl. McDaniel’s Slough), Jolly Giant Creek (incl Butchers Slough), Cambell and Beith Creeks (incl. Gannon Slough), Jacoby Creek, Washington and Rocky Gulches (incl. Brainard's Slough), Cochran Creek (incl. Fay Slough), Redmond, Freshwater, and Ryan Creeks (incl. Freshwater Slough), Eureka urban creeks, Elk River, and Salmon Creek. Some of the State's most important, viable stocks of Coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead trout are found in these watershed tributaries.

Land Use:
Timber production – 54%
Open Space and parks – 14%
Urban – 10%
Agriculture – 9%
Rural residence – 7%
Other – 6%

Population:
Arcata – 14,000
Eureka – 30,000
Small, rural communities – 33,000 (Fairhaven, Samoa, Manila, Bayside, Freshwater, Kneeland, Cutten, King Salmon, Field’s Landing, Table Bluff)

Humboldt Bay: 25 square miles of surface area at high tide and 8 square miles of surface area at low tide, 102 miles of shoreline, approximately 18,900 acres of open water and mudflats, 1,500 acres of salt marsh, and 23 diked hydrologic sub-units.

Resources:
4,000 acres of eelgrass
900 acres of salt marsh, reduced from 10,000 acres 130 years ago
60% of Brandt geese in Pacific Flyway population use Humboldt Bay between December
and April, peak spring population of 21,000
More than 110 species of fish
Second only to San Francisco Bay in numbers and diversity of migratory water associated birds wintering in coastal segment of Pacific Flyway of California
Threatened and endangered species include Tidewater Goby, Coho and Chinook Salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt, Foothill yellow-legged frog, Snowy Plover

Littoral Cell: Trinidad Head to Cape Mendocino
40 miles long
Extreme wave climate
Approximately 1 million cubic yards of sand removed annually from harbor entrance