Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in North Fork, CA

North Fork is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Madera County, in the Sierra Nevada foothills at an elevation of 2,638 feet.

North Fork lies within the traditional homeland of the North Fork Mono people — its Mono name, wa?ahhpY', means "cedar grove" — and it is the headquarters of the Northfork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California.

The geographic center of California, as determined by a 1995 survey, is located about 7 miles southeast of North Fork and is marked by a survey monument.

The settlement grew up around Brown's Place, a stopping place Milton Brown established in 1865, and took its modern name from the North Fork Lumber Company organized in 1886; its post office opened in 1888.

In 1902 North Fork became the administrative headquarters of the Sierra Forest Reserve, the predecessor of the Sierra National Forest, and the forest supervisor's office remained there until 1989.

Logging and lumber milling dominated North Fork's economy for a century, until its last major mill, South Fork Timber Industries, closed on February 25, 1994.

North Fork's logging heritage is celebrated at the Mid-Sierra Loggers Jamboree, an annual event with logging competitions and a parade that began in 1959 as a community fundraiser.

The Sierra Mono Museum in North Fork preserves the history and culture of the Mono people, and the town is the western starting point of the 100-mile Sierra Vista Scenic Byway through the Sierra National Forest.

North Fork was counted as a census-designated place for the first time in 2020, when the census recorded 3,250 residents living in 1,327 households.

North Fork has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters, averaging about 33 inches of precipitation a year.