Stretching from its headwaters in the forest above town down to its mouth in Butcher Slough, Arcata’s Jolly Giant Creek is only four miles long — pretty short, so far as waterways go, but its importance outshines its length. About half of it is in the city proper, and it functions as a drain, funneling runoff down to Humboldt Bay during the rainy months. Most of that lower half is underground, snaking through Arcata concealed in culverts, and when those rainy months come and the marsh floods, so does the creek. If it coincides with a king tide — a mighty tidal surge that usually occurs a few times a year — then woe be to the Arcatans near the marsh, whose homes sometimes flood. Climate change has the power to make the problem worse. Are there ways to prevent or blunt future floods? Probably, and Arcata’s now about $600,000 closer to getting there.

The California Coastal Conservancy recently awarded $597,000 to the city government to study ways to restore the creek and Butcher Slough and adapt them for climate change, money the city gets to accept later this month. It’s a big project, and this funding will only make up the first chunk of a larger, sustained effort, but it’ll go a long way towards completing the initial research. The city will study the creek’s hydrology and its hydraulics: how it moves and where it goes, where it needs the most work.

Preparing the creek and the slough to handle larger volumes will be a transformative task. Some of the creek may be daylighted, the subterranean flow uncovered and allowed to move above ground, giving it a little room to breathe when the water runs high. 

It might also be moved. According to the conservancy’s notes, the creek could be rerouted away from homes near the Arcata Marsh on South H Street and towards a lake in the marsh instead. The city may also build a berm behind the houses. 

The project will be good for the salmonid species that live in the creek, like juvenile coho salmon, as well as other aquatic species. Daylighting the stream is especially beneficial; more creek above ground means more fish habitat. (They just pass through the culverts.)

The initial phase will take around two years to complete, Arcata’s director of environmental services, Emily Sinkhorn, told the Outpost. City-led construction could start in about five, but there are incentives included in the Gateway plan for private developers to daylight the Jolly Giant on their own property as well. Developers could be allowed to build greater-density projects if they daylight the creek on their properties.

Representative Jared Huffman and Assemblymember Chris Rogers both advocated for Arcata, writing letters to the conservancy that emphasized the stream’s importance. “Efforts like this advance broad goals of supporting resilient rural communities and sustaining viable fish populations in Northern California rivers and creeks,” Rogers wrote. “The proposed project will realize sustainable outcomes by building on recent and ongoing projects and long-range community planning related to sea level rise adaptation.” A member of the city’s Wetlands and Creeks committee called it an “essential” project that will benefit the creek, a “unique and irreplaceable community asset.”

Creating more open spaces is a priority for the city, Sinkhorn said. The creek is a “gem,” she said, hidden right under our feet. 

“This project will really enable the opening of more open space and habitat within downtown Arcata,” she said. “That really matches the values of Arcata…And it’s amazing, that we have salmon and coho coming up from the bay and utilizing these really urbanized segments of both Janes and Jolly Giant Creek. And I think being able to create even more habitat for salmonids has been a priority in the Humboldt Bay region, and is something, that, I think, Arcatans will be excited about as well.”