Here in northeastern California we have long been at the mercy of geography. Isolated from the rest of California by distance and mountain passes, Lassen and Plumas counties have had to work a little harder to get products to market. This weekend at the Rails to Trails Festival we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the rail line coming to Susanville, an event that Susanville residents had worked hard for on many different levels, and still celebrate today, because that single connection to the outside world was so important to local agricultural and lumber concerns.
In 1913 our town was linked by steel rails to the rest of the world and lumber production in the heyday of Red River, Fruit Growers and Lassen Lumber and Box, with this new connection to markets far and wide, averaged between thirty and fifty train cars full of logs each day! Lassen County became home to the single largest lumber mill in the world, simply because there was a train to move our product to the consumer.
Much like the geographical problem early California pioneers faced, the rural areas of Lassen and Plumas counties have suffered from a ‘digital divide’ that kept us isolated from the rest of world by rather limited bandwidth and connectivity. Without the ability to connect to high-speed infrastructure, as they would in the city, our area loses a major attraction for businesses or individuals who really love the area, but can’t be out of touch for long periods of time.
Skype from Eagle Lake, telecommute from Westwood, relocate your technology company to the prettiest part of California!
This is all becoming a reality as a group of like-minded innovators come together in a consortium known as ‘Rec and Tech’ to promote technology here in the rural areas of the state. Rec and Tech is a collaborative of businesses, chambers of commerce and interested residents of Plumas, Lassen and Sierra counties.
Think of the difference in travel and tourism when a visitor to Lassen County can spend that extra day or week here enjoying our outdoors while staying connected to work. Much like the railroad carrying products to far-flung markets, the technology gives us the ability to attract good clean industries; commercial and industrial start-ups, expansion and companies that might consider relocation, as long as the infrastructure is in place to carry their goods to the consumer.
In terms of economic development this connection to the outside world is pure gold.
The new fiber optic system just completed by Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications will bring our schools, hospitals, emergency services and businesses to the next level. The primarily grant-funded network of 195 miles of fiber-optic cable runs through the heart of Plumas, Lassen and Sierra counties with multiple interconnection points that will provide an abundance of bandwidth.
This broadband connection, which runs from Reno all the way to Quincy and Susanville, with spurs to Portola, Graeagle, Loyalton and Herlong, will allow third party providers to reach far beyond their current boundaries to access the rural areas and substantially increase service, improving the way communities live, learn and work together.
Here in Susanville Plumas-Sierra Telecom has partnered with Zito Media to extend the fiber’s reach. PST provides the bandwidth and Zito provides the infrastructure and delivery. Anchor institutions have been connected and Zito has begun offering speeds up to 50Mb, which is very, very fast.
The new fiber system offers virtually unlimited bandwidth for larger institutions and any business or residence requiring very high speeds. Affordable speeds for software developers and other users needing advanced speeds are available up to one gigabyte per second.
Here at SusanvilleStuff we are taking advantage of the screaming fast speeds to run a live video broadcast of each Friday’s Lassen Grizzly football game. Zito Media’s connection to the announcer’s booth at Arnold Field allows us to push high-quality video to our SusanvilleStuff server. That’s a great example of the kind of opportunities this connectivity offers.
This weekend at the Rails to Trails Festival in Susanville Zito Media and Plumas-Sierra will be on-hand with free, fast Wi-Fi to let you connect and sample the new service. While you are tasting chili, watching handcar races or running in the Bizz Johnson you can stay connected with amazing speed.
Can you use the service at your home? Although the grant did not include fiber to the home, it is expected that service providers will be able to offer higher speed to customers in the near future. Plumas-Sierra has also said it will work with additional communities to make the connection happen if they are willing to organize and support system expansion efforts.
The members of the Rec and Tech organization are working to promote the beauty and uniqueness of this community in order to help it grow and make it a premier destination to live, work and play. Ultimately the thought we want to pass through the minds of visitors to the Sierra is, “I could live here. I could work here.” That’s a great goal we can all get behind.
Find out more about Rec and Tech by visiting their website at www.recandtech.com.
