Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Chester, CA

Chester is an unincorporated census-designated place in Plumas County, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Almanor along State Route 36, about 30 miles north-northwest of the county seat, Quincy.

The town was formerly called Big Meadows, and it was named Chester by two settlers, one who came from Chester, Vermont, and another from Chester, Missouri; its post office opened in 1894.

Chester sits at an elevation of 4,534 feet, almost directly over the buried northern end of the Sierra Nevada fault block and the southernmost end of the volcanic Cascade Range.

Chester's main industries are lumber production and tourism, and the town serves as the retail center for the whole Lake Almanor basin, home to all four of the basin's gas stations and its only full-size grocery store.

Collins Pine has operated in Chester since the 1940s under a sustained-yield management plan, and its selective-harvesting forestry has been certified as sustainably managed by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Lake Almanor next to Chester is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and hunting, and Lassen Volcanic National Park lies within a 50-mile radius of town.

Chester has a snowy mountain climate averaging about 114 inches of snow a year, with cold winters and dry summers of hot days and cold nights.

Chester had a population of 2,187 at the 2020 census, up slightly from 2,144 in 2010.

The town had 1,035 households in 2020 with an average size of 2.09 people and a median age of 53.3 years, and about 65% of its occupied homes were owner-occupied.

Local students attend Chester Elementary School and Chester Junior Senior High School in the Plumas Unified School District, and the Chester Museum is housed as an addition to the town library.