A plan to revive Sierra-Nevada towns with a new hiking trail to draw eco-tourists

That is the gist of Jessica Garrison's story out of Portola, California, population 2104, in nonmetro Plumas County.  The headline is "‘We have to remake ourselves’: Can a new trail help revive this crest of the Sierra?" Here's an excerpt that provides the economic background on this initiative to remake the "Lost Sierra Route" trail, which would bring more tourism to towns that have been experiencing population loss.  

Yard by dusty, backbreaking yard, workers have set out to build 600 miles of trails to connect remote mountain towns such as Sierra City and Chester that once flourished because of gold mining or logging but now are withering. Downieville, for example, was once one of California’s most populous towns; as of the 2020 census, its population was less than 500.

The project — dubbed “Connecting Communities Through the Lost Sierra Route” — aims to reverse the decline. If all goes as planned, mountain bikers, off-road bikers and hikers would flood in, drawn by the opportunity to traverse from town to town a la the Swiss Alps. They would exult in the stark beauty of the landscape, spend oodles of money in local restaurants, bars and hotels, and then go home again — hopefully without driving up housing prices too much.

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“We had an economy based first on gold and then on timber, and both of those have waned,” said Lee Adams, who sits on the board of supervisors for Sierra County, which had a population of just 3,200 people according to the 2020 census.

“We have to remake ourselves,” added Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss, who represents Greenville, the town that was burned to the ground last year by the Dixie fire. Included in the wreckage was Goss’ business, a pharmacy. “I am looking for … anything to create a little more tourism.”

Goss spoke of bringing high-speed internet, food trucks, luxury camping, “anything and everything” that might boost the economy. Even before the Dixie fire incinerated Greenville last summer, Plumas County was already seeing its population decline.

But, of course, there are downsides:  

Already, some locals are fed up because of a lack of parking on weekends. And they think they know who to blame: all those cars with bike racks on the back, and other accouterments that seem to scream “Bay Area Driver.” Not to mention a housing crisis that already feels dire.

Sierra City, mentioned above, is a place where the Pacific Crest Trail pass through a town.  I've written about it here.  And here's a post about Downieville, also in Sierra County.  Posts about Plumas County are here and here.  And here's a post about the so-called "Lost Sierra," also out of Plumas County which, by the way, is the size of Delaware with a population of about 20,000.