Humboldt County is located in Northern California - 250 miles north of San Francisco. The county is densely forested, mountainous, and rural, with 110 miles of coastline. The county contains over forty percent of all remaining old growth Redwood forests, the vast majority of which are protected or conserved, within dozens of national, state, and local forests and parks, totaling approximately 680,000 acres.

There are 11 federally recognized and unrecognized tribes, rancherias and sovereign tribal governments within Humboldt's service area (Humboldt/Del Norte/Trinity Counties). These include: Big Lagoon Rancheria, Blue Lake Rancheria, Elk Valley Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, Karuk Tribe of California, Resighini Rancheria, Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, Smith River Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, Trinidad Rancheria, Wiyot Tribe and the Yurok Tribe.

Humboldt sits in the northwestern portion of Wiyot ancestral territory. The Department of Social Work respectfully acknowledges the Wiyot people and other Tribal communities on the North Coast and in the northern California region.