Brooktrails is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

and unincorporated community in

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. It shares ZIP code 95490 with Willits.95490 Zip Code Detailed Profile
City-Data.com, accessed 8 March 2013 The population was 3,632 at the 2020 census.

History

After being extensively logged from the 1880s to the middle of the twentieth century,Greenbelt Stewardship Plan
, Brooktrails Township Community Services District, accessed 8 March 2013 Brooktrails Township was founded under a special provision in state law.Anderson, Bruce
Mendocino County Today: June 24, 2012
''Anderson Valley Advertiser'', 23 June 2012, accessed 08 March 2013, quote: "... the Brooktrails housing development outside of Willits where unsuspecting buyers were buying small, unbuilding lots in Brooktrails, not knowing that they had no water or sewer, and in some cases not even decent road access." It was marketed as a vacation mountain retreat for San Franciscans in the 1970s. It has approximately 6,600 parcels varying in size from to . The smaller parcels are mostly surrounded by the township-owned Brooktrails Redwood Park, a Anderson, Glenda
Mendocino County trees cut for marijuana garden
''The Press Democrat'', 2 June 2008, accessed 8 March 2013 forest

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

composed of

tan oak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

and

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...

.Introduction
, Greenbelt Stewardship Plan, Brooktrails Township Community Services District, accessed 8 March 2013 Brooktrails has over 30 hiking trails and two lakes, Lake Emily and Lake Ada Rose, that store and direct water to its

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the Water quality, quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking water, drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recrea ...

plant.Brooktrails Water System Facilities & Sewer System Information
, Brooktrails Township Community Services District, accessed 8 March 2013 There is also a small market and a deli. The Brooktrails Township Community Services District, governed by a five-member elected board of directors, provides water, sewer, and recreational services to the residents.BTCSD General Information
, Brooktrails Township Community Services District, accessed 8 March 2013 In 2012, Mendocino County paid the back assessments on hundreds of abandoned Brooktrails lots; however, they stopped paying water, sewer and fire assessments for those lots. The entire community of Brooktrails was evacuated in September 2020 due to the threat of the Oak Fire.

Geography

Brooktrails is in central Mendocino County, occupying hills to the west of Little Lake Valley. The fire department and golf course lie at an elevation of , but the community's western edge rises to nearly . It is north of Willits. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the CDP covers an area of , 99.36% of it land, and 0.64% of it water.

Demographics

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

reported that Brooktrails had a population of 3,235. The population density was . The racial makeup of Brooktrails was 2,818 (87.1%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 22 (0.7%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 87 (2.7%) Native American, 26 (0.8%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 4 (0.1%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 109 (3.4%) from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 169 (5.2%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 329 persons (10.2%). The Census reported that 3,235 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 1,322 households, out of which 428 (32.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 628 (47.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 156 (11.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 84 (6.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 124 (9.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 11 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 344 households (26.0%) were made up of individuals, and 93 (7.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45. There were 868

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

(65.7% of all households); the average family size was 2.90. The population was spread out, with 752 people (23.2%) under the age of 18, 246 people (7.6%) aged 18 to 24, 894 people (27.6%) aged 25 to 44, 954 people (29.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 389 people (12.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males. There were 1,444 housing units at an average density of , of which 955 (72.2%) were owner-occupied, and 367 (27.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.9%. 2,353 people (72.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 882 people (27.3%) lived in rental housing units.

Notable residents

Douglas Killmer Douglas "Doug" Killmer (July 18, 1947 – August 29, 2005) was an American blues and rock bass guitarist active from the 1960s to the late 1990s. He is sometimes credited as Douglas Kilmer or Doug Kilmer. He is best remembered for playing th ...

, bass guitarist *

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-l ...

, actor and martial artist

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

, Brooktrails is in , and . Federally, Brooktrails is in .

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Mendocino County, California Unincorporated communities in California Census-designated places in California