Ponderosa2023

Huntington Lake Association

Huntington Lake Association Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy – Billy Creek Museum P.O. Box 232, Lakeshore, CA 93634 Phone: 559-347-0402 Websites: https://www.huntingtonlakehistorical.com www.huntingtonlakeassociation.com The Huntington Lake Association Inc. (HLA) was founded in 1923. The HLA evolved when the U.S. Forest Service policy began encouraging people to use the national forest in 1908. Forest Service policy at the time, according to USFS representatives, stated, “We wanted people to recreate, watch for fires, render emergency aid and report damage or abuse of forest resources. We established cabin tracts and invited people to settle the forest.”

The volunteer fire department is a 911 responder for the entire Huntington Basin, serving the public at large. Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy sponsors the Billy Creek Museum. This location of the last remaining Forest Service administration buildings, built in 1929, was the residence of Orland Bartholomew and his family from 1932 to 1952. The buildings are operated by volunteers and open during the summer. The Historical Conservancy and its numerous partnerships, including the Forest Service, provides historical walks, campfire talks and special programs that are related to the Huntington Lake Basin and the Big Creek Hydroelectric project. The mission of the organization is to educate the general public on the natural, native American and socio-economic history and hydroelectric contributions of the Huntington Lake and Big Creek communities, to restore and maintain public interpretive facilities along with other historically significant buildings and sites.

The HLA membership now includes 417 recreational residence permittees, numerous commercial permittees, as well as church, youth and scout camps. Several of its current and still active members have been part of the Huntington Lake community since the early 1900s when they came to the basin with their parents as small children. Many families have a direct link to the development of Huntington Basin through family members who came to work on the Big Creek Hydroelectric project. Some family members came to provide support service (laundry, mail, newspapers, housing, groceries and other essentials) while others came as Forest Service employees, as teachers or students, photographers, ranchers or providers of recreational facilities and services to the public. Huntington Lake Association provides numerous services to its members, including the following essential services: • Fire protection • Garbage collection • Liaison to the U.S. Forest Service and county, state and federal agencies on critical issues of importance to its members

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