There was no October meeting as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group which has been hosting a series of meetings on forest health and resilience, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan etc. In the meantime, this blog will be published once a month so if you have any message that relates to the ABC mission statement that needs distributing, please let me know at dGriffith.9@gmail.com.
Economic Diversification: Part of the ABC’s mission statement is to “… promote … local economic development.” There are currently three(!) economic development studies underway involving Alpine County. The Central Sierra Economic Development District (CSEDD) which is composed of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, and Alpine counties has released its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for public comment. The deadline for submitting comments is 30-nov-2023.
The Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) Eastern Sierra Region, comprised of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties is working on a regional economic development strategy and has up to $14 million to help kickstart economic development projects in the region. More information is available here.
The Eastern Sierra Region CEDS has essentially been completed and covers Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties. The public comment period is over, but you can download a copy of the next to final version here and go to agenda item 10.5 which starts on page 230.
One of the common recommendations in all three is the development of a stewardship economy, although they sometimes refer to it as a forest economy. A stewardship economy “… comprises three intersecting categories of activities which: 1) promote stewardship of land and water resources; 2) develop rural economies and create jobs; and 3) provide education and job training opportunities for community members and advocate for beneficial policies at the state, regional, and national levels.” (see Building a Stewardship Economy: Insights from Community Innovation in the Rural American West)
A stewardship economy will not replace our tourism/recreation, and government economy, but compliment it and diversify it.
Alpine Biomass Collaborative 
Don’t know what this means in terms of something real on the ground. Once we studied an upgrade of the airstrip with a modest commercial park there. Seemed feasible at the time but we never followed up. What Bear Valley (and probably the rest of the county) needs is employee housing. And covered parking.
LikeLike