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Elk, California

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Mendocino census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95432. It lies near Wharf Rock. The Survey maps it on the Elk quadrangle. It stands 135 feet above sea level.

Elk within Mendocino County

Then and now

1943 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 38 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Elk, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Elk, surveyed 1943

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

35 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 35 fires within 5 miles of Elk between 1993 and 2018, burning about 34 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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/undetermined18
Equipment and vehicle use9
Recreation and ceremony3
Debris and open burning2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMendocino UnitYOUNG
3 September 2003Naturalunder an acreMendocino UnitBIRD
26 September 2002Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresMendocino UnitKINNEY
9 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthern California DistrictGREEN
9 August 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMendocino UnitNAVARRO
6 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionNAVARRO BEACH ELK
4 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthern California DistrictGREENWOOD
22 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionCREEK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mendocino County

Storms near this place

4 since 2016

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elk in 4 storm reports between 2016 and 2025: 4 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2025FloodElk-Highway 128 flooded and closed due to the Navarro River. Flood stage reached briefly on the gauge.
February 2024FloodElk-The Navarro River exceeded flood stage and closed Highway 128.
February 2024FloodElk-Navarro River exceeded flood stage causing flooding on Highway 128 and its closure.
December 2016FloodElk-California Route 128 closed along the Navarro River. This highway is one of two primary routes from the coast to interior areas of southern Mendocino County. No damage reported to the roadway.

Every storm recorded in Mendocino County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Cape Horn4.4 miles17
Whitesboro6.3 miles13
Albion7.0 miles13
Navarro9.4 miles15
Little River10.4 miles16
Reilly Heights10.8 miles15
Melbourne11.1 miles14
Manchester11.2 miles19

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 ElkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5363956The 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 1655992. 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.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.