Mitchell County Chamber Launches Outdoor Recreation Initiative

The Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce has been working for two years on background and planning for development of an outdoor recreation economy in Mitchell County.  In February of 2019, the Chamber began meeting with local businesses and residents interested in outdoor recreation in Mitchell County. The Growing Outdoors Partnership of WNC assisted the Chamber with the first meetings to share outdoor recreation data, gather input and research, and begin the discussion of how to develop an economy around outdoor recreation in Mitchell County.

“Mitchell County is filled with beautiful land, rivers and mountains,” said Mitchell  County Chamber of Commerce Director Patti Jensen. “By improving what we have, developing new assets for our county and setting out to responsibly take care of our natural resources, we can build an economy around outdoor recreation that creates wonderful assets for our own citizens, develops projects that draw visitors to our area, and also creates a climate to recruit outdoor recreation businesses and gear builders to our area that would bring jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities as well.”

Outdoor Recreation is an important and fast-growing sector in the U.S. economy. In North Carolina, over half of all residents participate in outdoor recreation each year. This contributes to quality of life factors, and it attracts families and employers.

The Outdoor Recreation Economy in North Carolina generates $28 billion in consumer spending annually, which is more than financial services and insurance. This consumer spending includes dollars spent on outdoor recreation products, including gear, apparel, and equipment as well as trip and travel spending, which includes food, lodging, and guide services. It also contributes 260,000 direct jobs, $8.3 billion in wages and salaries, and $1.3 billion in state and local tax revenue. In addition to its direct economic impact, the outdoor economy helps to diversify the local economy and improve quality of life, attracting entrepreneurs and employers from other sectors.

Rural communities struggle with population loss, job loss, and growing economic distress, but recreation can be the difference between gaining and losing population in rural counties. Between 2010 and 2016, non-recreation rural counties lost 20 people per 1,000 residents because of out-migration compared to recreation counties, which gained just over 1 person per 1,000 residents.

Earnings per job in rural recreation counties grew six times faster than in non-recreation counties over the past decade.  In the short-term, recreation drives support for tourism-related businesses. In the long-term, recreation supports the economy by recruiting new residents, business owners, entrepreneurs, and workers which promotes growth in earnings per job.

“There is hard evidence that shows us that communities that develop their outdoor recreation assets are more successful at attracting new industries, have higher earnings in their job sectors and gain residents rather than lose them,” said Jensen. “Doing the work to look at our county as a whole, gain input from local citizens and people who work in Mitchell County, and then develop a long range strategic plan for our county, we can lay the groundwork for growth and investment for our county,” said Jensen.

The Chamber partnered with NCGrowth in the Spring of 2019 on an asset mapping project for outdoor recreation in the county. “The NCGrowth team took on our project at no cost to our community to map our current outdoor recreation assets such as trails, rivers, inputs, etc. and then created a report with the asset maps, recommendations, etc., ” said Jensen. “Their partnership really pushed our project forward in a great way and gave us a road map of recommendations to begin with.” The asset map project listed recommendations including development of a taskforce, which the Chamber pulled together in the Fall of 2020. “The outdoor recreation taskforce was the first recommendation of NCGrowth and we began to immediately pull that together,” said Jensen. The taskforce is made up of local, regional and statewide outdoor recreation representatives and interested parties along with local officials. The first task of the taskforce was to take on the development of a strategic plan for outdoor recreation.

The Chamber and the taskforce is currently working with the NC planning team of the Appalachian Regional Commission who is assisting with the outdoor recreation strategic plan for Mitchell County.  “We are fortunate and grateful to have the ARC team partner with us to develop our strategic plan,” said Jensen. “They are offering their services to us at no cost which is a great benefit to our project.” The Mitchell County Commissioners signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ARC in December of 2020 to enable the project to begin.

The taskforce and ARC are currently conducting a survey of local residents and workers to gain input into the strategic plan. Local citizens and people who work in Mitchell County are encouraged to take the survey to share their thoughts about outdoor recreation in the county. The survey can be found on the Chamber’s Facebook page and on its website at www.mitchellcountychamber.org.

“There are already several outdoor recreation projects underway in the county, said Jensen, that we are excited to encourage and support. We are thankful to the Town of Spruce Pine for partnering on a new mountain bike pump track at Brad Ragan Park which will open to the public this year,” said Jensen. A pump track is a looped sequence of rollers and berms (swoopy, banked turns) for bike riders. It’s designed to maximize your momentum, so you can ride it with minimal pedaling. The pump track is a great beginner’s track for kids or those just getting into the sport. “We are so thankful to our taskforce member Tim Kearns, his son TJ (who is a professional trail builder) and Chris Boone for their perseverance, passion and volunteer hours to see this project come to fruition,” said Jensen. The Chamber hopes this trail is the just the first of many in Mitchell County.

Other local outdoor recreation projects that are currently underway include the National Parks Service partnering with local organizations on The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail from Spruce Pine to Lake James. This project is being led by Starli McDowell and will be an incredible project when completed.  The master plan for the trail was completed in the winter of 2020. An enhanced section of the trail from Grassy Creek to Riverside Park is underway with partnerships from the Blue Ridge Resource Conservation and Development, Sibelco and The Quartz Corporation. The High-Country Council of Governments in currently developing cycling maps, sidewalk and bike lane update plans, recommended approaches to promoting tourism and outdoor recreation in a new project they are working on for the region. Discussion of improvements of the county’s river access points including safety upgrades, parking, signage, etc. has begun. An initial preliminary assessment has been completed in the new asset mapping project. Other trail projects are currently being developed and discussed across the county as well including those in the Roan Mountain, Bakersville and Spruce Pine communities.

The Chamber is committed to this project and realizes that it is a long range initiative. “There is a lot of work to be done,” said Jensen. “But if we as a county work together, including government leaders, businesses, local citizens, non-profit groups, health care and education organizations, we can truly  create something special for our local citizens and for those who come to visit us, “ said Jensen. “Nothing great ever happens without hard work and commitment,” said Jensen. “And we invite anyone who wants to see good things happen in our community to join us.”