Rural counties ponder plan to link scattered economic clusters

As members of the team that's putting together an economic strategy for the eight largely rural counties of northern Nevada got down to work, they put to use one of the most important tools of any study group: Sticky dots.

The 10 colors of sticky dots, with each color signifying the presence of an industry such as aerospace or agriculture, told a compelling story when they were placed on a map of the region a few weeks ago.

The eight counties have a widely diverse economic base. The challenge, planners say, will come as communities seek to create linked-together economic clusters from those sometimes-scattered industries.

The economic planning effort dubbed "Stronger Economies Together" is driven by requirements of two federal agencies the rural development arm of the Department of Agriculture and the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce.

Both agencies provide money for economic development in the agency, and both want to make sure that the money is spent wisely.

"Our goal is to complete a smart analysis of where the opportunity exists to create economic clusters," says Sarah Adler, state director of USDA Rural Development.

The eight counties covered in the study Storey, Humboldt, Pershing, Churchill, Mineral, Lyon, Douglas and Carson City all have a mix of basic industries.

Churchill, Storey and Lyon counties, for instance, have identified nine sectors that provide their economic bases. None of the eight counties has fewer than five building-block industries.

The 30-member planning team now begins painstaking data-crunching to determine how to shape those building blocks into larger, regional clusters.

"It's kind of intense," says Tom Harris, a rural economic development specialist at the University of Nevada, Reno. "This works from the bottom-up, teaching people to work together to develop strategies."

Next month, for instance, team members will gather in Minden to take a close look at the importance of each of the building-block industries in each of the counties.

From there, they'll look at the networks of suppliers that are required by each building-block industry and look for ways of strengthening the clusters of basic industries and their suppliers.

Adler says the approach building on existing successes is dramatically different from past economic plans that have focused on recruitment of companies to rural Nevada.

"We have gone way beyond smokestack-chasing as an economic development strategy," the USDA executive says.

She says, too, the wide involvement of people who live in the region will help ensure that economic plans reflect community realities.

"It matters to local people in rural Nevada who you bring in to be their neighbors," Adler says.

Ron Radil, executive director of Western Nevada Development District, says the study is designed to dovetail with statewide and regional plans under development by the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

The development district helps funnel federal funds into the region for creation of infrastructure projects such as water-treatment plants and industrial parks.

Among the outcomes of the Stronger Economies Together study, Adler says, will be identification of local planning and infrastructure projects that can help set the stage for economic growth.