LOYALTON — Rhonda Grandi, Director of Public Health, took the stand at Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors to summarize the 2023 Sierra County Health Assessment. The Assessment is a collection of data from surveys conducted in the county, interviews with “key informants,” and Town Hall meetings. Public Health hopes to use this report to influence county programs and serve Sierra County residents effectively.

The fact that Sierra County’s residents are aging is one obvious takeaway from the Health Assessment. The percentage of the population occupied by seniors is substantially higher than the state average; California’s median age group is 35-39, while Sierra County’s is 50-54. Grandi assured the board that services for seniors are a clear area of focus for Public Health, as exemplified by the recently introduced Senior Outreach Nurse Program. Sierra County’s population also has a much higher percentage of veterans than California, at around 11% compared to the state’s 5%, another demographic Public Health is targeting.Sierra County age group percentage estimates compared with California average. Data from census.gov.

The Health Assessment also shows that teenagers’ drinking and nicotine use, especially vaping, is up from 2017. According to the 2021-2022 California Healthy Kids Survey by Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified, 31% of 11th graders currently use e-cigarettes or other vaping devices. Supervisor Adams suggested that the numbers could be up due to the pandemic and related stress and jokingly mentioned that he had considered smoking during that time.

Interestingly, the fitness of Sierra County adolescents has significantly improved since 2011, at least according to Health Fitness Zone scores resulting from a school fitness test. The county underperformed on those scores in 2011, testing below the California average at all grade levels. In 2021, all grade levels significantly exceeded the California average. Mental health turned out to be a mixed bag, with 7th and 9th graders reporting chronic sad or hopeless feelings at a lower rate than the state, but 11th graders at a much higher rate of 67% compared to the state’s 44%.

In general, Sierra County adults have a similar rate as the rest of California of obesity, higher rates of excessive drinking, less access to healthy foods, and slightly higher rates of poor mental health days. Despite those statistics, death rates are significantly lower than average for rural areas both in California and country-wide. The usual suspects for cause-of-death unsurprisingly rank highest in Sierra County, with circulatory issues first (heart disease), cancers second, and respiratory issues third. All occur at lower rates than in rural areas statewide and nationwide. Sierra County births are up since 2018, peaking in 2020 at 25.

Interviews and Town Halls emphasized the need for more organized recreational activities, with sports and outdoor programs suggested. According to the Assessment, the most common health-related theme brought up in Town Hall meetings was the lack of services, particularly for dental, child health, and mental health. The second most common theme was lack of communication, most notably when power and phone lines go down in the winter. Many town hall participants were unaware of the Sierra County Resource Guide, available on the county website.

In other news…

General Plan Housing Element Not to Exceed $65,000

Sierra County will collaborate with the City of Loyalton to complete an update to the Housing Element of the county’s General Plan. Although the cost savings from the collaboration were not as extensive as hoped, the not-to-exceed cost of $65,000 beats the quote from Mintier Harnish of around $200,000. The contract is set up so that the county can still complete the project independently if Loyalton backs out. While $50,000 has already been allocated for the task, Planning Director Brandon Pangman suggested reallocating $15,000 from the Lakes Basin Recreation Master Plan Update project to cover the remainder since that project is not planned to be pursued soon.

Forest Service Continues End-of-Season Burns

Sierraville District Ranger Rachel Hutchinson reported that 800 of a planned 1000 acres had been burned for the Sagehen Hills Underburn project, and the last day of burning was Tuesday the 17th. Yuba River District Ranger Tom Parrack mentioned that 80 acres had been completed of the Yuba D burn last week and that burning is expected to continue this week should the weather remain favorable. Campgrounds are scheduled to close by the end of October. Parrack did, however, assure Supervisor Adams he would do what he could to keep some lower-elevation campgrounds accessible through the winter.

Roof Repairs for Sierra Brooks Well Pump House

The board authorized payment to Home Hardening Solutions, the same company that performed repairs on the Downieville Community Hall roof, to repair the Sierra Brooks Well 2 Pump House roof. Bryan Davey noted that Public Works was impressed with the quality of work and low cost of the Community Hall roof repairs, which influenced the awarding of the contract.

Packer Lake Road Bridge Construction to Cease for Winter

While the Salmon Lake Road Bridge is complete, the Packer Lake Road Bridge will pause construction by October 27th in preparation for winter.