Cold Creek (Russian River tributary)

The Mendocino Complex Fire was a large complex of wildfires that burned in northern California for more than three months in 2018. It consisted of two wildfires, the River Fire and Ranch Fire, which burned in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn Counties in the U.S. State of California, with the Ranch Fire being California's single-largest recorded wildfire at the time until the Dixie Fire in 2021. The Ranch Fire burned eight miles northeast of Ukiah, and the River Fire burned six miles north of Hopland, to the south of the larger Ranch Fire. First reported on July 27, 2018, both fires burned a combined total of 459,123 acres (1,858 km2), before they were collectively 100% contained on September 18, though hotspots persisted until the complex was fully brought under control on January 4, 2019. The Ranch Fire alone burned 410,203 acres (1,660 km2), making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time until the August Complex fire that occurred in 2020. The Ranch Fire also surpassed the size of the 315,577-acre Rush Fire, which burned across California and Nevada, as well as the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, which was previously believed to have been California's all-time largest wildfire. It also included the Redwood Valley Fire that claimed 8 lives.The fires collectively destroyed 280 structures while damaging 37 others; causing at least $257 million (2018 USD) in damages, including $56 million in insured property damage and $201 million (2018 USD) in fire suppression costs. The city of Lakeport, communities of Kelseyville, Lucerne, Upper Lake, Nice, Saratoga Springs, Witter Springs, Potter Valley, and Finley, parts of Hopland, and the tribal communities of Hopland Rancheria, Big Valley Rancheria, and Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake were evacuated. The smaller River Fire was the first fire in the complex to be contained, reaching full containment on August 13, while the Ranch Fire continued to burn for more than a month after that, with flames on the northern flank of the Ranch Fire pushing eastward from the Snow Mountain Wilderness into Glenn County. The Ranch Fire finally reached full containment during the evening of September 18. However, the Ranch Fire continued to burn deep within containment lines until November 7, when the fire was declared to be inactive.

The Redwood Valley Rancheria (officially known as Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo Indians) is a federally recognized Indian tribe located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California. The tribe is primarily composed of Pomo Indians. Redwood Valley Rancheria is a sovereign Indian tribe with the powers of self-governance.

Pomo (Pomo for "Those who live at red earth hole") is an archaic place name in Mendocino County, California. It was located 1.25 miles (2 km) southeast of Potter Valley, at an elevation of 942 feet (287 m).

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 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.

Calpella (Pomo: Kalpela, meaning "Mussel bearer") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located on the Russian River, 6 miles (10 km) north of Ukiah. It is situated within the Ukiah Valley, at the intersection of U.S. Route 101 and State Route 20. The population was 799 at the 2020 census, up from 679 in 2010. The small town is the site of the Mendocino Redwood Company mill and offices, which controls ten percent of the private land in the county.

Potter Valley is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located 18 miles (29 km) north-northeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of 948 feet (289 m) at the headwaters of the East Fork Russian River. The CDP population was 665 at the 2020 census.

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.

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.

Vichy Springs (formerly, Ukiah Vichy Springs and Doolan's Ukiah Vichy Springs) is a set of springs around which formed a resort in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located on Sulphur Creek 3 miles (4.8 km) east-northeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of 801 feet (244 m).Although previously used by the local Native Americans, the first westerner to discover the hot springs at this location was Frank Marble, in 1848. The springs at Ukiah Vichy resemble the more famous Grand Grille Springs in Vichy, and like the springs in Vichy the waters of the springs are alkaline and carbonated. In the 1850s William Day founded the Ukiah Vichy Springs Resort, taking advantage of the 19th-century revival of hydrotherapy. By 1892 the resort was known as Doolan's Ukiah Vichy Springs. Visitors included Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Jack London, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain. As one of the oldest continuously-operated hot spring resorts in the state, Ukiah Vichy Springs has been recognized as California Historical Landmark #980.A post office operated at Vichy Springs from 1893 to 1936.

The Guidiville Rancheria of California are a Pomo tribe located in Mendocino County, California.