Recreation and Tourism leaders from across California gathered on April 23 for a statewide symposium co-facilitated by Sierra Jobs First industry sector coordinator, MLTPA, and Redwood Region RISE, bringing together leaders who are shaping how one of California’s most economically and culturally significant sectors evolves in the coming years.
Sierra Jobs First representatives, including members of the Sierra Business Council team, played an active role in bringing forward the Sierra’s perspective as both a global recreation destination and a region whose communities are deeply impacted by a visitor economy reliant on our ever-changing natural landscape.
More than fifty participants attended the symposium, which was made possible in part through Sierra Jobs First/California Jobs First funding, including representatives from state agencies, regional partners, workforce organizations, and economic development leaders.
The symposium was unique in focusing less on the high-level vision-setting and strategy work that defined the past few years and moving forward to ask: How do we move the ambitious plans crafted through years of diligent strategy work into tangible outcomes for communities across the state?
California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot joined the event as a special guest, offering remarks and facilitating a Q&A session that provided an opportunity to connect our regional priorities to broader statewide strategies around resilience, economic development, and stewardship.
Another key element of the symposium was facilitation grounded in real-world experience, ensuring that the conversation was centered not only on opportunity, but on the operational realities rural regions face when advancing recreation and tourism— from infrastructure and workforce constraints to balancing economic growth with environmental responsibility.
The result was a day of connecting, networking, and collaborating focused not just on what California’s recreation economy could become, but on what it will take to build it in ways that work for communities on the ground.
In regions like the Sierra, recreation and tourism are not side hobbies or weekend diversions, but an industry that is foundational to economic resilience, public health, small business vitality, and long-term stewardship of land that forms the backbone of California itself. The symposium marked an important step toward ensuring rural regions are not just included in statewide conversations, but actively helping guide them.
As we approach a change in state administration, it’s important that we continue to advocate at the state level for outdoor recreation and tourism to be considered a critical component of the statewide economy, and one that needs significant investment and focused development, especially in rural communities. Investment in the outdoor recreation and tourism sector is multi-benefit and cuts across many priority areas including economic and community development, resilience in the face of climate and wildfire impacts, public health, and community wellbeing.
To view materials from the symposium, visit the MLTPA project landing page here.
To join together with other recreation and tourism stakeholders in the ongoing work of amplifying the industry in the Sierra, join the Sierra Works mailing list here, or the statewide symposium mailing list here.