Fieldbrook, California

Geography

Fieldbrook is located on California's North Coast, approximately 300 mi north of San Francisco and 65 mi south of the Oregon state line. Located on the edge of dense redwood forest, the area was once home to thriving lumber companies. Fieldbrook is 6 mi east of the larger, unincorporated, seaside town of McKinleyville and the Arcata-Eureka Airport, approximately 10 mi northeast of the harbor city of Arcata, and about 18.2 mi north of the city of Eureka, the Humboldt County seat. Fieldbrook is at the northern edge of the McKinleyville-Arcata-Eureka-Fortuna corridor along US Highway 101, where about eighty percent of Humboldt County's population lives and most of its businesses are located. The ZIP Code is 95519. The community is inside area code 707.

Fieldbrook is located at the right-angle bend where Murray Road becomes Fieldbrook Road. In the mid-1990s, Fieldbrook was a stereotypical sleepy country hamlet, with junk cars sitting in weedy yards along the main road in one block and goats grazing alongside a church in the next. With the decline of the local timber industry, the increase of remote working professionals, and the emergence of the North Coast as a retirement destination, Fieldbrook with its mild weather (summer temperatures seldom exceed 75 F and winter nights rarely drop below 38 F has undergone gentrification. Sprawling ranch-style (single-story) homes on isolated 5 acre lots wedged between timber tracts are selling for $500,000, and at least one 40 acre timber tract has become a gated community.

The few blocks of paved and unpaved roads that comprise Fieldbrook property include modest homes, an elementary school and two churches, as well as a general store, a winery and an apple orchard that host public events. Larger residences whose owners identify with the Fieldbrook community continue south along Fieldbrook Road as it heads inland and uphill 6 mi to the small city of Blue Lake (population 1,200) at the foot of the Coast Range. The road connects there with State Highway 299, a winding route that crosses the mountains and connects with Interstate 5 in Redding, about 90 mi east.

Fieldbrook is on the north bank of the Mad River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. Although the Mad River supplies the water to much of Humboldt County's population, the small population does not have a significant impact on the river's flow. The north side of Fieldbrook Road is second-growth (coppice, multiple thinner trunks sprouting from the stumps of harvested trees) redwood forest with the occasional clearing for a house, and the logging rules allow the forest canopy to maintain a height of 200 to. A narrow zone adjacent to the road is maintained as an unlogged buffer, presenting the illusion of virgin forest to tourists. On the north side of the buffer, in any given year the majority of the timber tracts have been growing for at least seven years, comprising a wilderness if not exactly parkland. The region is rich with wildlife and animals like deer, elk, foxes, raccoons, and the occasional black bear or cougar are found.

History

A post office operated in Fieldbrook from 1902 to 1932.

Education

Fieldbrook is the seat of the Fieldbrook Elementary School District, and home of the Fieldbrook School, a public K-8 school.

Demographics

|align-fn=center 2010

Fieldbrook first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. census.

The 2020 United States census reported that Fieldbrook had a population of 827. The population density was 79.0 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Fieldbrook was 685 (82.8%) White, 7 (0.8%) African American, 19 (2.3%) Native American, 5 (0.6%) Asian, 3 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 14 (1.7%) from other races, and 94 (11.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 46 persons (5.6%).

The whole population lived in households. There were 344 households, out of which 80 (23.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 178 (51.7%) were married-couple households, 27 (7.8%) were cohabiting couple households, 62 (18.0%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 77 (22.4%) had a male householder with no partner present. 93 households (27.0%) were one person, and 36 (10.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.4.

The age distribution was 145 people (17.5%) under the age of 18, 35 people (4.2%) aged 18 to 24, 178 people (21.5%) aged 25 to 44, 221 people (26.7%) aged 45 to 64, and 248 people (30.0%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 51.6years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males.

There were 377 housing units at an average density of 36.0 /mi2, of which 344 (91.2%) were occupied. Of these, 279 (81.1%) were owner-occupied, and 65 (18.9%) were occupied by renters.

Government

In the state legislature, Fieldbrook is in , and .

Federally, Fieldbrook is in California's 2nd congressional district, represented by Jared Huffman.

References

References

1. "Explore Census Data".
2. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
3. {{gnis. 223487
4. 2611430
5. [https://www.google.com/maps?saddr=Fieldbrook,+CA&daddr=Eureka,+CA&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&gl=us&panel=1&fb=1&dirflg=d&geocode=FaUMcQIdH4ib-CknAGj1glzRVDG-9KGkFbdEdw;FReXbgIdp2mZ-CmnTv_mg__TVDGVBim4ZgeGKg&t=m&z=11 Google Map distance]
6. "ZipDataMaps".
7. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, much of Fieldbrook was owned by lumber companies. Railroad lines ran through Fieldbrook to the Humboldt Bay.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jl6QU7d3OJgC&q=fieldbrook&pg=PA35 Logging Railroads of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties].
8. [http://www.humboldt.k12.ca.us/schdist/index.php Humboldt County Office of Education]
9. [https://www.fbk8.org/apps/spotlightmessages/7822 Fieldbrook School]
10. "Decennial Census by Decade".
11. "2010 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
12. "Fieldbrook CDP, California; DP1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
13. "Fieldbrook CDP, California; P16: Household Type - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
14. "Senators". State of California.
15. "Members Assembly". State of California.
16. {{Cite GovTrack. CA. 2