The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners during its regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 15 adopted the Mitchell County Outdoor Recreation Economy Strategic Plan.
The commissioners and County Attorney Dean Grindstaff reviewed the document and approved it at the recommendation of County Manager Tim Greene, who assured the commissioners that the plan doesn’t commit the board to anything.
“There’s nothing binding we’re committing ourselves to,” Greene said. “It is a good plan for us to follow to improve our outdoor recreation.”
The 124-page plan is meant to complement and build on previous outdoor recreation efforts including the Mitchell Works 2016 Strategic Plan and the NCGrowth asset mapping project of 2020. The plan was drafted with input from the Mitchell County Outdoor Recreation Task Force, community stakeholders and feedback from area residents, experts and outdoor recreation participants.
“With pristine natural assets, an active business support structure in place and involved outdoor recreation enthusiasts, Mitchell County is well suited to capitalize on growing participation trends in outdoor recreation,” the plan reads. “Key to achieving this goal is the further development of outdoor recreation assets such as river access points and trailheads and drawing visitors from scenic vistas into commercial centers such as downtown Spruce Pine and Bakersville.”
To improve the outdoor recreation culture in the region, the plan calls for continued regular meetings of the MCOR Task Force, promotion work by the MCOR Task Force, the inclusion of outdoor recreation as part of community events, expansion of the current tourism website or the development of a new one and continued collaboration with the Growing Outdoors Partnership.
The plan breaks down the outdoor activities for the region and highlights ways to deal with the challenges each presents.
The plan highlights walking and hiking, cycling, other trail-based activities, fishing and floating activities. The latter part of the plan explores entrepreneurship and small business and industry readiness.
The entrepreneurship and small business section points to lack of lodging options, lack of existing outdoor recreation business and local and regional collaboration as challenges and suggests seven steps including creating structures to support outdoor recreation, establishing an entrepreneurial culture and fostering a spirit of collaboration.
To foster industry readiness, the plan suggests maintaining and strengthening relationships, creating a local site inventory, promoting outdoor recreation and quality of life amenities and developing and implementing local training and activities for children.