Prosperity: the North Coast Strategy for the New Economy

SWOT Analysis and Critique by:

Jason Ewing

Julie Gordon

Brent Matlock

Mellissa Schwartz

Economics of a Sustainable Society

Professor Steven Hackett

Spring 2003

Interviewed: Georgina Wood

Strengths

· Needs and desires of the people can be addressed through this plan because there is broad based community support. The plan is more grass roots, as individuals are encouraged to pursue their business interests.

· A blueprint helps people visualize the process of building an economic network and to see what needs to be worked on. Many people work best when the entire diagram or network is described clearly to empower people to make connections and to build on the existing infrastructure.

· Due to the depth and organizational structure of the plan, industry clusters are supported and expanded, thus promoting the injection of capital into the economy.

· The county can work together to help heal the divisions within the community. The support that the plan has from the state ensures that economic prosperity within the county is being addressed.

· The plan includes goals; strategies, prospected outcomes and an evaluation process that will make planning easier and the actions of the members will be accountable to the community.

· There is a paid staff to make sure that this plan is not forgotten about or left unattended.

· This area is exceptionally beautiful with a deep history and cultural integrity, thus attracting people worldwide.

· The local Native American tribes have a deep history with the land and can help guide the vision of this county into the future.

Opportunities

• Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to access assistance programs to start their own businesses. This further increases the job pool.
• Outside industries that are attracted to Humboldt’s atmosphere will move to this area, especially because they will find that the community network is strengthened by this plan.
• Humboldt State University helps strengthen the community by innovative and enthusiastic ideas that often lead to technological advancements such as the Arcata Marsh and the Schatz Energy Lab. Businesses interested in sustainable and appropriate technology will be attracted to this area. The wide use of such appropriate technologies may help when the global peak of oil production hits.
• There is room to expand and innovate within the plan, thus not limiting the potential of this community. A flexible plan will also allow for any incongruent disruptions that may arise.
• Students are encouraged to enter into internships, thus strengthening the businesses’ potential and quality.
• Population rates are stable and there is some amount of ethnic diversity, allowing for a healthy community.
• This area is remote enough to allow for sustainability to be achievable in the case of any catastrophe such as war or empire collapse. Many people here have the wisdom and knowledge to help this community survive. Although the quality of the ecosystem has been severely damaged, there are still enough natural resources and open space to ensure a chance of survivability.

Weaknesses

• Lack of ecological (environmental) concern. The report specifically points out that “our small town feel” is Humboldt County’s greatest attribute, yet future monetary input from prospective new businesses may override that ambiance. Georgina Wood said, “Anything is possible if it is economically feasible”. She went on to say that the network is not the county’s natural resources police, but does look to maximize material-use by timber companies on their land, presumably to limit waste. A stronger concern towards finding the meshing point between economics and the environment needs to be addressed.
• Georgina expressed concern that a connection needs to be continued after the network takes what an industry(ies) says, enacts some type of perceived benefit, and then has no feedback of the results. In order to keep positive business growth, the network needs to know how new ideas are working at the ground level.
• There is an insufficient staff to provide for the entire county. Although not immensely populated, the county spans over a large land area and in order to provide for all, the network needs more than it’s existing handful of people.
• Including the Native American tribes, there is the difficulty in equal representation from all parties and industries. Each tribe, roughly twenty in Humboldt County, needs to have their economic concerns heard. Each tribe has their own agendas and bringing a person from each tribe to represent a relatively small population is difficult. Some common ground must be found between tribes in order for proper representation to be accomplished within the Prosperity Network.

Threats

• The peak of global oil production could cause a catastrophe.
• The legalization of marijuana may decrease the worth of this major industry or the increased enforcement of the Drug War might limit profit margins.
• Any one of the major industry clusters could fail:

1. The timber industry could face major lawsuits and regulation control, a loss of international and national support due to negative press about harvest practices, leakage of capital due to the importation of lumber and timber harvesting may reach a peak in ten to fifteen years.

2. The dairy industry could decrease production, thus leading to a collapse of the industry. Dairies and ranches may have to become responsible for land erosion and manure drainage, thus making the costs rise above the profits.

3. Tourism could decline if the natural beauty is compromised, insurance and licensing costs are too high for tour and attraction operators, or people find this area too inaccessible.

4. The fisheries are collapsing due to a major decrease in fish populations, strict regulations on size and quality of catches as well as waste discharges, difficulty in obtaining permits, and an insufficient number of new fishermen to take the place of aging ones.

5. Organic farms may find a great difficulty in getting registered as organic, they have no infrastructure for storage and packaging, and residential encroachment.

6. The small manufacturing cluster has difficulty in providing health care for employees, the Humboldt County Environmental Health Dept. has different rules and higher fees than the rest of the state, and there is a lack of middle managers thus making implementation difficult.

7. The information and Technology cluster is lacking cooperation with low-tech businesses, a high-speed information transfer, a reluctance of banks to loan money to tech, based businesses, and permitting and licensing are difficult.

• Land values could increase drastically, thus increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. Industries could be tempted to sell their land for residential or conservation efforts.

• The treacherous road conditions make transportation issues difficult.