Lake Almanor West, CA

At the 2020 census, Lake Almanor West was a Plumas County census-designated place of 211 people on the southwestern shore of Lake Almanor. It is a recent residential community laid over older timber, trail, Maidu, ranch, and hydroelectric landscapes. The Maidu lived around Big Meadows before the reservoir; the Lassen Trail crossed the basin in the late 1840s; and the Red River Lumber Company logged the area heavily in the late 1920s. Around 1950, Edward A. Clifford bought the land that included Lake Almanor Country Club and Lake Almanor West for an average of about $64 an acre, reportedly without realizing the western community was part of the deal.

Development of the larger country-club site began in 1953, while Lake Almanor West itself covers about 615 acres with roughly 2.5 miles of shoreline. Initial lot sales began in 1974 with 650 lots planned; the community association now counts 695. A nine-hole golf course took shape from 1977 through its 1981 opening, and an intended county boat-ramp parcel eventually returned to the developer as a greenbelt after Proposition 13 changed the county's maintenance plans. Lake Almanor West is a small census place with a surprisingly layered relationship to timber, water, recreation, and second-home development.