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Monday, Aug. 10, 2009

Moving beyond logging — Once the sawmill goes, reliance on tourism could become stronger

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TUOLUMNE COUNTY — For decades, visitors have enjoyed the peace of the Tuolumne County woods while loggers a few miles away sent trees crashing to the ground.

Tourism and the timber industry long have coexisted in the county, even with the controversy that the cutting sometimes brought.

"The resort has been here since 1922, and we've always had logging," said Laurie Cashman, general manager of the Pinecrest Lake Resort, which has old logging photos in its restaurant.

In recent years, timber's part in the county economy has declined, and it will suffer a major hit with the loss of the Sierra Pacific Industries sawmill at Standard.

The closure, tentatively set for Friday, could mean more reliance than ever on tourism.

"The tourist industry, obviously, is one of the largest categories of business here in Tuolumne County at this point in time," said George Segarini, executive director of the county

chamber of commerce.

The county has a wealth of attractions — Gold Rush towns in the foothills, a national forest dotted with campgrounds and reservoirs, and a large chunk of Yo- semite National Park.

Several million people live within a three-hour drive of the county, including the Northern San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area. A smaller number of visitors make their way from other states and nations.

Travel-related spending in the county totaled $164 million in 2007, up from $144 million in 2003, according to a study done for the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau. The figure does not include the Black Oak Casino.

The spending by visitors was 18 times the gross value of timber from the county's public and private forests in 2007. Although the logs gained value upon being sawed into lumber, the total still was far less than tourist spending.

10th of jobs in tourism

Tourism employed 2,360 people in the county last year, nearly a 10th of its jobs, according to the California Employment Development Department.

But tourism has its downside — the low wages for many of the people working in restaurants, lodgings and other places that serve the visitors.

The state agency says a typical motel desk clerk makes $9.89 an hour and a waitress $8.56, though tips can help out the latter. Compare that with the $26.26 per-hour wage for a typical timber faller or the $14.88 for a sawmill machine operator.

"These are family-wage jobs, which we don't have a lot of in the county," Segarini said.

Nanci Sikes, executive director of the visitors bureau, said many people do make a good living as owners of small businesses serving tourists.

"A lot of these are entre- preneurs — the bed-and-breakfasts, the small hotels," she said. "They're doing what they love, and the profit is theirs."

The county attracted visitors even before Yosemite was established in 1890, and before automobiles and growing incomes made vacations possible for many Americans.

As the 20th century went on, the county drew a steady stream of families, scout troops, church groups and other fun-seekers. They camped, fished, hiked and boated — and they laid down cash at restaurants, service stations and stores.

"I think tourism has always been a really important part of the economy," said Cashman, whose resort employs about 75 people at the summer peak. "If we don't have snow and Dodge Ridge doesn't open, the whole county would suffer. If Pinecrest Lake isn't full, the whole county would suffer."

Tourism, like logging, is a primary industry: It takes advantage of natural wealth — in this case scenic beauty — and gets people from outside to spend money in the county. This money in turn ripples out to other businesses as people in tourism spend their paychecks.