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H. ECONOMIC IMPACT AND STRATEGIES
This project will develop estimates of the economic impacts projected to occur from the acquisition of water rights and changes in agricultural production and land use. The project will also formulate economic development actions to mitigate the projected economic and fiscal dislocations. One benefit of this research will be to identify appropriate sustainable economic development actions and related public policy alternatives.
Researchers:
From UNR: Sam Males, Bureau of Business & Economic Research (BBER); Dick Bartholet, BBER; Glen Atkinson, Department of Economics (DE), Mark Nichols, DE, Robin Bartlett, Rural Nevada Development Corporation; and other UNR faculty members for specific areas of expertise related to economic development (i.e., logistics).
Updates:
2007: May | June | July | August | September | October | November| December
Current Year: 2008
May 2007:
Four sub-regions of the Walker Basin have been specified for examination of economic impacts and formulation of different economic development strategies:
- The portion of the Walker Basin in the vicinity of Bridgeport, Calif.
- The Smith Valley area
- The Mason Valley area
- The Walker Lake area
The Nevada Small Business Development Center (NSBDC) hired an economic development specialist, John Snyder, to work with the NSBDC in the Walker Basin. John is from Yerington, where his family has been engaged in ranching for more than 100 years. John has a degree in Agricultural Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His start date was May 14.
June 2007:
A fifth sub-region of the Walker Basin has been specified for examination of economic impacts and formulation of different economic development strategies, consisting of the Coleville/Walker/Topaz area (mostly in Mono County, California, with a small portion in Douglas County, Nevada. This will be in addition to the four sub-regions previously identified: 1) the portion of the Walker Basin in the vicinity of Bridgeport, California, 2) the Smith Valley area, 3) the Mason Valley area, and 4) the Walker Lake area.
July 2007:
A power point describing the major elements of the “economic development” project has been prepared for presentation at the next stakeholders meeting (August 2007)
Data collection continues in regard to the current economic output related to agricultural production.
August 2007:
Presentation was made regarding the process being used for the formulation of economic development strategies to the August meeting of the Stakeholders Group.
Data collection continues in regard to the current economic output related to agricultural production, with local verification of types of crops being cultivated.
September 2007:
Data collection is nearing completion for current economic output related to agricultural production, with local verification of types of crops being cultivated.
October 2007:
Discussion questions were developed for community meetings, designed to gather input about preferences for economic development in the various sub-regions. These questions were then tested in a one-on-one interview with a local resident and business owner of Mason Valley. Several more interviews are planned before roll-out of the community meetings.
November 2007:
We completed the process of testing the community meeting questions. The first two community meeting dates have been set: December 5, 2007 in Yerington and December 10, 2007 in Smith Valley, both to start at 7 p.m. Five additional meetings in Walker Basin communities will be scheduled in January and February 2008.
December 2007:
The first two community meetings (community conversations) were held - Dec. 5, 2007 in Yerington and Dec. 10, 2007 in Smith Valley. The meetings went relatively well - no major surprises, with some good input from the communities. Follow-up meetings for Yerington and Smith Valley have been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 14 (Yerington - at the elementary school)) and Jan. 16 (Smith Valley - at the library) for those who were unable to attend the first two meetings. A meeting has also been set for Hawthorne on Jan. 31, again at 7 p.m.