Cal Poly Humboldt
PRE-3: Institutional Boundary

Humboldt State University (also known by it's simple acronym "HSU") is a public institution of higher education with a main campus located at 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, CA 95521. The main campus is nestled in the redwoods on the east side of a small northern California town that roughly doubles in population with the addition of students during each academic year. HSU is located approximately 280 miles north of San Francisco, but sits close to the coast, just 5 miles inland from the beach when measured as the crow flies. The campus sits on hilly terrain overlooking the Humboldt Bay, the Arcata Marsh, and as can be seen from higher elevation vantage points on campus further in the southern distance, Old Town Eureka. Programs in natural resources and sciences are nationally known, and faculty take full advantage of the many applied learning opportunities that the Northern CA coastal landscape affords by utilizing a variety of field study practices and case studies. Visual and performing arts are also popular areas of study, along with social science and justice-oriented fields.

Campus also sits on land that is un-ceded territory of the Wiyot people. It is surrounded by the traditional, ancestral, and present homeland of several indigenous nations including the Hupa, Karuk, Mattole, Tolowa, Wailaki, and Yurok that make up Humboldt County. By some accounts, this part of CA hosted/hosts some of the largest, most prosperous and thriving populations of native people in the state.

The University holds several satellite parcels of land that should be noted for institutional activities, including: the Telonicher Marine Lab in Trinidad, CA; the L.W. Schatz Demonstration Tree farm in Korbel, CA; the Natural History Museum also known as the Figueiredo Building located approximately a half mile from main campus in Arcata, CA; the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center on the Waterfront of Eureka, CA; the Corp Yard on Samoa Blvd in Arcata, CA; and a recently deeded 800+ acre parcel of forested land in Jacoby Creek.

Auxiliary facilities and operations of Housing and Dining (located within the boundary of main campus) and the University Center (also located within the boundary of main campus) are included in the calculation for institutional boundary of campus here.

Several buildings owned by the University were excluded from the Institutional Boundary. Rationale for these exclusions falls into three categories: a) the building does not experience institutional use, or b) the building is leased out to a third party entity whose primary activity is not related to the institution, or c) space does not contain a structure with usable square footage. Accordingly, the following buildings were excluded from total building square footage and total acreage tallies because these facilities do not currently experience any sort of use: 570 Granite Avenue, Building 20, Cogeneration Unit, Entrance Gates, KHSU Kneeland Transmitter Site, Redwood Bowl West Bleachers, Redwood Sciences Lab, Tenth Street Children's Center, Turner House, Union Street Duplex Residence, Water Tower, and the Wells Fargo Building.