Brooktrails is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

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 S ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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 or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

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 a hardwood tree that is native to the far western United Sta ...

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

and

redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

.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 quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, ...

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, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

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

Demographics

Brooktrails first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

in the 2010 U.S. Census. The 2020 United States census reported that Brooktrails had a population of 3,632, all of whom lived in households. The population density was . The racial makeup was 76.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.0%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 3.9% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.2%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, 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 th ...

, 7.0% from other races, and 10.4% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 15.3% of the population. There were 1,370 households, out of which 31.4% included children under the age of 18, 48.2% were married-couple households, 12.0% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 21.2% had a female householder with no partner present, and 18.5% had a male householder with no partner present. 24.2% of households were one person, and 10.3% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.65. There were 911

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(66.5% of all households). The age distribution was 24.1% under the age of 18, 6.8% aged 18 to 24, 28.8% aged 25 to 44, 22.1% aged 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 37.9years. For every 100 females, there were 106.8 males. There were 1,458 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,370 (94.0%) were occupied. Of these, 74.3% were owner-occupied, and 25.7% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $120,099, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $36,946. About 3.1% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line.

Notable residents

* Douglas Killmer, bass guitarist *

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

, actor and martial artist

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, 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