The Eastern Sierra Economic Assessment project resulted in publication of “Eastern Sierra Innovation and Prosperity: An Industry Cluster Approach to Economic Sustainability in California’s Inyo and Mono Counties” in September 2012. To launch the project in 2009, Sierra Business Council assembled a committee of more than 40 community stakeholders and contracted the Sonoran Institute to produce a comprehensive assessment of current and past economic drivers in the Inyo-Mono region. 

The Eastern Sierra Innovation and Prosperity report provides economic development strategies for five economic sectors, or clusters, identified by the project’s committee to most likely experience or contribute to further growth within the Inyo-Mono regional economy. The report also provides tools for measuring strategy success, information on funding sources, a full report on recent economic drivers, discussion of California’s current economic climate and case studies of successes elsewhere in the Sierra Nevada.

The Eastern Sierra Economic Assessment project was a truly collaborative process, from beginning to end, with volunteers from throughout Inyo and Mono Counties dedicating hundreds of hours to site visits, interviews, meetings with government officials and in review of the Sonoran Institute’s assessment of economic conditions in the region. After countless hours of review and deliberation, the committee reached consensus and ultimately produced this guide for future economic sustainability in Inyo County and Mono County.

You may download “Eastern Sierra Innovation and Prosperity: An Industry Cluster Approach to Economic Sustainability in California’s Inyo and Mono Counties” here

images courtesy of Vickie Taton