LETTER OF INTERESTJuly 25, 2018 Congressman Doug LaMalfa 20515 322 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Honorable Congressman LaMalfa: By way of introduction, my name is Derek Beverly. I grew up in Sierra City (Sierra County), California, graduated from Downieville High School, and am a registered voter of Sierra County. After a 42 year law enforcement career which began as a Deputy Sheriff in Sierra County, ending with 9 years assigned to the FBI/JTTF (Sacramento Division) and 6 years as a Senior Intelligence Officer for the California State Terrorism Threat Assessment Center, I have now fully and completely retired and returned to my home town in Sierra County. This has and will always be my home and a territory which I dearly love, care much about, and have very deep roots. As you may be aware, Sierra City is a very small town with a population of well under 225, and thrives primarily on the tourism industry (Lakes Basin Area/North Fork Yuba River/Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). One aspect of this industry are hikers of the PCT which runs directly through our territory. Over the past several years the number of PCT hikers, both "through" and "section" hikers has increased tenfold. As a result, our town has difficulty addressing increases in such areas as refuge, sanitation, and accommodations. (See photos attached). As such, I have a very plausible solution for this which I hope you will take a moment to consider. East of the Sierra City township is an old former US Forest Service (USFS) maintenance station/barracks which has recently been restored (to some extent) and is now sitting vacant and unoccupied. (See photos attached). For consideration are the following: With the assistance of volunteers, volunteer groups and/or government subsidized youth employment program: • Completely restore the barracks into a fully functional visitors hostile • Restore hot/cold running water with both indoor AND outdoor showers • Obtain storage lockers from the DRMO (Defense Reutilization Management Program, basically Military surplus) which PCT hiker could use to store and secure belongings • Provide single person bedding/bunks • Provide storage and security utilizing one out building for incoming packages/supplies • Redirects USP and FedEx to a better suited place to make deliveries • Provide adequate refuge disposal site for recyclable materials (plastic containers, boxes, etc.) • Charge a nominal fee/donation for use Possibly electric vehicles/carts could be operated by local volunteers and/or summer aides to provide transportation for visitor hikers to/from our township (approximately 1 mile) on a scheduled basis. All this and then some could be run by either local volunteers or provided by government subsidized summer youth jobs in the community. This plan would alleviate refuge/garbage in town, provide a place of respite for PCT hikers/campers, provide for a secure place for belongs and incoming packages while still maintaining the needed tourism income to the local community. It would be a win-win solution for all. Please consider this a priority to our community. Sincerely, Derek T. Beverly Cc: Sierra Booster, Loyalton, CA U.S. Department of Agriculture 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20250 USDA Forest Service Sidney R. Yates Federal Building 201 14th Street, SW Washington, DC 20024 USDA/USFS Tahoe National Forest 631 Coyote Street Nevada City, CA 95959 USDA/USFS Yuba River Ranger District 15924 Highway 49 Camptonville, CA 95922 Supervisor Peter Huebner District 2, Sierra County Board of Supervisors 100 Courthouse Square, Room 11 P.O. Drawer D Downieville, CA 95936 Submitted: 03/17/25 Article By: Sierra Booster |