BlockBefore

Wildwood, California

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Lorenzo Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95006. It stands on Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Big Basin quadrangle. It stands 541 feet above sea level.

Wildwood within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1902 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Wildwood, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Wildwood, surveyed 1902

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 33 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

304 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 304 fires within 5 miles of Wildwood between 1992 and 2020, burning about 8,359 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 11 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/undetermined123
Equipment and vehicle use78
Misuse of fire by a minor24
Debris and open burning23
Recreation and ceremony18
Smoking13
Arson/incendiarism11
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Natural5
Other causes1

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
9 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitLOST
9 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitEMPIRE GRADE
9 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitBEAR CREEK #3
9 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitBEAR CREEK NUMBER 2
8 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitUPPER
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitJAMISON
7 September 2000Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitARAKI
7 September 1995Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitBUS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Wildwood: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Unnamed LocationGoldOccurrence

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

2 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wildwood in 2 storm reports between 2018 and 2024: 1 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
February 2024Thunderstorm WindWildwood$10A 3 foot diameter tree fell onto the roadway at California Route 236 and China Grade Road.
January 2018Debris FlowWildwood-Mud and rocks reported on half of the road at Empire Grade and Jamison Creek Road.

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz 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
Rices Junction0.1 miles33
Redwood Grove0.4 miles33
Bracken Brae0.9 miles33
Forest Springs1.1 miles33
Forest Park1.2 miles33
Riverside Grove1.6 miles33
Boulder Creek1.9 miles34
San Lorenzo Park3.1 miles33

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 WildwoodAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q28924465The 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 1660180. 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.

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.