Calpella, California

The Waldorf School of Mendocino County is a private school for children in Pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Calpella, California, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Ukiah. Founded in 1972 by Linda Valenziano as Mountain Meadow Country School, it was originally located in Potter Valley and operated only as a Preschool/Kindergarten. The following year a first grade class consisting of eight children was added, conducted under Waldorf education principles. Additional grades continued to be organized in subsequent years, eventually prompting the move to its current location on the west side of Third Street in Calpella in 1979. Ms. Valenziano remained on the school's faculty until 1995 and was chiefly responsible for it becoming fully accredited by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America in 1990, the only school in Mendocino County to do so. It currently serves over 100 students, the majority staying only for pre-K and kindergarten. Those who stay for first grade and beyond are taught using a mixed-age format where students from two grade levels combine to form one class, their teacher remaining with them all the way through the eighth grade before finally "looping back" to begin again with a new class of first and second graders. The original move to the Calpella campus was only a lease for a single parcel with two buildings, the main one housing the administration and classrooms for the 1st through 8th grades and the smaller used for the preschool and kindergarten. As enrollment continued to grow the school was able to purchase the location in 1985 and began making improvements to the site, including a playing field and a large garden which remain centerpieces of the campus today. In 1996 they saw enrollment swell to its highest levels ever with over 170 students and bought the property opposite the main building on the east side of Third Street for use as a parking lot and the site of an Early Childhood Education complex they were preparing to construct. In 2000 the school retired its mortgage on the original site purchase from 1985 and in 2004 purchased the sole remaining lot on the west side of Third St., their campus now occupying the entire block.Before the start of the 1999–2000 school year the school's community suffered a split when a group of teachers and several families whose children were enrolled there left to form River Oak Charter School in the Ukiah Unified School District. The effects of the Great Recession were felt especially hard in Mendocino County, with many families no longer able to afford the costs of private school tuition and enrollment at the school fell below 100 students for the first time since the mid-1990s. A closure was narrowly averted in 2009, then from 2011 to 2013 it was forced to sell all of the land it had purchased but not yet made developments on to compensate for budget deficits. When the local economy's gradual recovery failed to see enrollment return to its previous numbers, the decision was made in 2014 to switch from traditional single-grade classes to the current mixed-age format with grades 1–8 being combined into just four classes that each had students from two grade levels. At the same time tuition was increased by 40% from $7,500 annually to the current rates which average $10,156 per year if a child attends from preschool to eighth grade.Thanks to a $10,000 donation from a student's grandparents in 2017, the school has implemented an energy independence policy and on January 25, 2019, held a ribbon-cutting for a new 15 kW solar energy farm on the campus which now provides over 90% of the electricity used by the school.

Mendocino is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Mendocino County, California within the vast 3,251,042 acres (5,080 sq mi) multi-county North Coast appellation. Mendocino AVA was established on June 15, 1984 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury after reviewing a petition submitted by Mr. James A. Beckman, Vice-President of Guild Wineries and Distilleries, on behalf of 113 local viticulture industry members within the County, proposing a viticultural area named "Mendocino." The 283,300 acres (443 sq mi) viticultural area encompasses eight valleys including Anderson Valley, Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Capella Valley, Ukiah Valley, Knights (McNab) Valley, Sanel Valley, and McDowell Valley where approximately 35,000 acres (55 sq mi) or 13 percent of the area is suitable for grape production. As of 2024, eight smaller sub-AVAs are nested within the Mendocino appellation that largely encompasses Mendocino County. The “Mendocino” name is synonymous with excellent wines, i.e., Carignan, Charbono, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Syrah and Zinfandel, that are sourced from the Mediterranean climate grapes cultivated in the area which for many years has been known as the “Mendocino” vintage. Anderson Valley, because of its cooler climate, is known for its Pinot noir and sparkling wine production. Many wineries in the adjacent Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties source Mendocino grapes to blend into vintages labeled with their appellations.

The 70-acre (280,000 m2) Coyote Valley Reservation in Redwood Valley, California is home to about 170 members of the Coyote Valley tribe of the Native American Pomo people, who descend from the Shodakai Pomo. They are a federally recognized tribe, who were formerly known as the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California. It is also the location of the Coyote Valley Shodakai Casino. The Coyote Valley tribe were formerly located a few miles to the southeast, at the Coyote Valley Rancheria. The Rancheria site was flooded by the construction of the Coyote Dam, creating Lake Mendocino, and the tribe relocated to the current reservation. They are a member of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council which is a consortium of Northern California tribal nations focused on environmental and cultural preservation. The council, which includes members of 10 federally recognized tribes in Mendocino and Lake counties, has worked to protect lands of cultural importance along the North Coast within the traditional Sinkyone tribal territory since it was established in 1986. The California Natural Resources Agency has discussed co-management of Jackson Demonstration State Forest with the tribe which is within their ancestral lands.

Rancho Yokaya (also called "Llokaya") was a 35,541-acre (143.83 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Mendocino County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Cayetano Juarez. The name Yokaya means "south valley" in the language of the Pomo people. The grant extended along the Russian River from the southern end of Ukiah Valley to the northern end of Redwood Valley, from one to two miles wide, and approximating sixteen miles in length, and encompassed present day Ukiah.

Redwood Valley (formerly Basil) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Ukiah, the county seat, at an elevation of 722 feet (220 m), and comprises the northern portion of the Ukiah Valley. It is about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Willits. Potter Valley is to the east and Calpella to the south. The ZIP Code is 95470, and the community is in area code 707. The population of the CDP was 1,843 at the 2020 census.

Lake Mendocino is a large reservoir in Mendocino County, California, northeast of Ukiah. It covers 1,922 acres (7.78 km2) and was formed by the construction of Coyote Valley Dam in 1958 (1958). The lake and dam provide flood control, water conservation, hydroelectric power, and recreation. The dam also includes a fallout shelter built during the Cold War era to protect against the radiation from nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union.

The Forks is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Ukiah, at an elevation of 640 feet (195 m).

East Fork Russian River is a 15 mi (24 km) long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility. It forms in the north of Potter Valley, flows south through this valley, then southwest through a mountain pass to Lake Mendocino, an artificial reservoir that empties into Russian River. At one time Clear Lake to the east drained through Cold Creek then along the lower part of East Fork Russian River through Coyote Valley to the Russian River proper. A few hundred years ago a massive landslide blocked this channel, and Clear Lake found a new outlet to the Sacramento River. Cold Creek flows year round, while the upper part of East Fork Russian River used to dry up in the summer leaving isolated pools along its course. This changed when the Potter Valley Project was completed in 1908. The project involved construction of two reservoirs on Eel River to the north of the Russian River basin, and a tunnel to the head of Potter Valley that carried water from Eel River to a hydroelectric station that discharged into East Fork Russian River. The Eel River water was used to irrigate Potter Valley, and supplied water to Ukiah below the convergence with Russian River. In 1958 Coyote Dam was built on East Fork Russian River just above its mouth on Russian River, flooding Coyote Valley to form Lake Mendocino. The lake provides additional water storage as well as flood control. The continuous flow from the Potter Valley Project changed the fish ecosystem in the Russian River by eliminating the warm, still pools that had been used for breeding by native fish. In the 1950s the state introduced poison to the river to eliminate "useless" fish species in favor of game species. The Coyote Dam prevented steelhead trout from returning upstream, so today the East Fork Russian River is dominated by rainbow trout. The section of the river that flows through the mountains between Potter Valley and Lake Mendocino includes stretches of white water that are challenging for kayakers and rafters.

Ukiah Valley is a valley located in Mendocino County, California, United States. It contains the Mendocino County seat of Ukiah. It also is home to the unincorporated towns of Redwood Valley, Calpella, Potter Valley and Talmage. Lake Mendocino and the headwaters of the Russian River are located in the greater Ukiah valley. The river flows southeast through the valley, passing through a rocky constriction into the Sanel Valley to the south. While part of the greater Ukiah area, Willits is located to the north of the Ukiah Valley in Little Lake Valley, part of the Eel River drainage basin. It is connected to the Ukiah Valley by U.S. Route 101 over Ridgewood Summit. Linguistically, "Ukiah Valley" is redundant: "Ukiah" comes from the Central Pomo word yokaya, meaning 'south valley'. The northern part of the valley was originally inhabited by the Northern Pomo, while the southern part was inhabited by the Central Pomo. The Central Pomo village of Yokaia, south of Ukiah, existed until the 20th century.

Mendocino College is a public community college in Ukiah, California. Mendocino College was founded in 1973. The main campus is located on 127 acres (0.51 km2) of hilltop land north of downtown Ukiah in the Ukiah valley. Currently there are about 4,000 students, 55 full-time faculty, and 200 adjunct faculty members. Three branches of the college exist, in Lakeport, Willits, and Fort Bragg