Alta Sierra, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Grass Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95949. It lies near French Ravine. The Survey maps it on the Grass Valley quadrangle. 7,204 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,310 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1888 to 1998The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresAlta Sierra grew from 6,911 to 7,204 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6,911 | |
| 2020 | 7,204 | +293 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 28 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1888 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1949 USGS Grass Valley quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1949 USGS Grass Valley quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1950 USGS Grass Valley quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Yuba City quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Grass Valley quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Grass Valley quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
674 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 674 fires within 5 miles of Alta Sierra between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,637 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 25 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 264 |
| Debris and open burning | 196 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 114 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 29 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 25 |
| Smoking | 18 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 17 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | THORNICROFT |
| 9 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | OSCAR |
| 9 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | GIBBONEY |
| 8 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | OAK |
| 8 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | MC COURTNEY |
| 7 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | POWERLINE |
| 7 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Central California District | BLUM |
| 7 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | MCCOURTNEY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 469 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 469 workings within 5 miles of Alta Sierra: 261 past producers, 153 occurrences, 29 unknowns, 13 prospects. 13 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Silver, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allison Ranch Qtz. | Gold, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Pyrite | |
| Amador | Gold, Tungsten | Past Producer | Gold, Scheelite | |
| Amador Consolidated Claims | Gold, Molybdenum | Occurrence | ||
| Bullion Con | Gold, Lead, Tungsten | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Scheelite | |
| Champion Lode | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Empire Mines Co. | Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Silver | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Empire Star | Gold, Lead, Arsenic, Zinc | Unknown | ||
| Green Lode | Gold, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | Unknown | |
| Half Chrome Mine | Iron, Chromium | Past Producer | 1916 | |
| Iron-Copper | Iron, Copper | Occurrence |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenwood Estates | 1.2 miles | 28 | |
| Forest Spring (historical) | 1.6 miles | 28 | |
| Birch Meadow Acres | 1.8 miles | 28 | |
| Alta Sierra Estates | 1.9 miles | 29 | |
| La Barr Meadows | 2.3 miles | 28 | |
| Alta Sierra Ranches | 3.0 miles | 29 | |
| Cherry Creek Acres | 3.0 miles | 29 | |
| Highland Park | 3.3 miles | 28 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Alta Sierra | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1931078 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1682830. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.












