No other Division II football facility on the West Coast provides the same game-time atmosphere as Redwood Bowl. The Lumberjacks have led the Great Northwest Athletic Conference over the past five consecutive seasons, and Redwood Bowl comfortably seats over 6,000 Green and Gold faithful.
 
Redwood Bowl’s surface is synthetic and is the same product installed at the San Francisco 49ers’ training facility in Santa Clara.

 
Redwood Bowl has been the Lumberjacks’ home venue since Sunday, Oct. 8, 1946, when the Green and Gold hosted the Stanford junior varsity squad. Lights were installed the following year after local merchants complained of a downturn in Saturday afternoon business because of the crowd draw.
 
The bowl was resurfaced during the summer of 2011. According to HSU Facilities Management, Redwood Bowl is the most heavily-used field on campus, employed by recreational sports programs, including intramurals, kinesiology and other department classes, football team practice and games, commencement, special events and general student use.
 
“Correspondence assured me that Redwood Bowl would be ready for the football season and this was my introduction to state policy in construction, as the field was not even planted until June,” Forbes said in his “Athletic History of Humboldt State College.”
 
In September, the bleachers were constructed by students under the direction of the local carpenter’s union and redwood bark was placed over the rocks on the track to prevent injury to football players.
 
Prior to the construction of Redwood Bowl, Humboldt State played most of its home games in Eureka’s Albee Stadium. That changed when newly appointed Director of Athletics and Head Football Coach Joseph Forbes arrived in Arcata during the summer of 1946.
 
The project is partially funded through a grant secured from the California Integrated Waste Management Board, which fosters recycling, waste reduction, and product reuse.