Walk, Hike, Ski, Bike and Ride into the Future with Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Alliance

Families have many options for winter fun at Nordic Ski Center, including affordable ski and snowshoe equipment rentals. Photo provided by SORA

“The heart and soul of what we do at Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Alliance [SORA] is connecting people to nature,” says SORA executive director Justi Hansen, “because we know that connecting people to nature and the outdoors through recreation creates healthier individuals and healthier communities.”

SORA combines resources to make access equitable, include community voices

Founded in 2018, SORA is a merger of Mount Shasta Nordic Ski Organization and Mountain Runners, with the goal of combining resources to expand the depth and breadth of the mission of creating and maintaining sustainable outdoor recreation in Siskiyou County. “Not everyone in Siskiyou County has the resources to access recreational activities, especially in the wintertime. Our programs are set up to make access more equitable and inclusive for everyone,” says Justi.

To achieve these goals, SORA staff is currently working on the South Siskiyou Sustainable Recreation Plan, to give the communities of Weed, Mount Shasta, McCloud and Dunsmuir a voice in recreational planning for the region. Online surveys and a series of public meetings held in all four communities earlier this year (Phase 1 of the Sustainable Recreation plan), yielded valuable input that will inform the next phases of the plan.

“The big takeaway from these meetings,” says Renee Casterline, SORA chief operating officer, “is the community is engaged and very passionate about recreation in our community and stewarding and maintaining the integrity of the recreation lands on which we play.” Justi adds, “What we found through the meetings in each one of the communities was a lot of enthusiasm for outdoor recreation and communities being able to connect in different ways. Weed, Dunsmuir and McCloud have less outdoor recreation infrastructure and therefore have more interest in developing more amenities. Mount Shasta has more recreational infrastructure and so residents there are not concerned with building more infrastructure but maintaining the existing facilities.”

SORA is currently working with Alta Planning + Design on phase 2 to develop a draft Recreation Plan. Early in 2025, SORA will bring this document to the community for its review and input with a second series of community meetings. After that community review, the Recreation Plan and a suite of supporting documents will be finalized and presented to the south county communities.

SORA works with the community to plan for the future

Based on this community input, SORA has developed a list of things important to each community. “One of the outcomes of this planning project is to identify projects for each community and projects that can touch all four of the south county communities,” says Justi. “The hope is that the South Siskiyou Sustainable Recreation Plan document will not only help guide the future work of SORA but will be a valuable resource for any other groups or organization who are looking to move a project forward. Organizations can point to this document and say, ‘There has been a ton of community input already and this is where this project rose to the top.’ Community input is a large part of the grant writing process.”

Rural transportation access is key to community prosperity

But SORA’s work to benefit the mountain communities it serves does not end there. SORA is assisting in a county wide Active Transportation Plan, funded by a grant from the California Transportation Commission’s Active Transportation Program. The project, led by the Siskiyou County Local Transportation Commission and Alta Planning + Design, Inc., includes community outreach around the county, which is where SORA comes in to help inform and prepare a countywide Active Transportation Plan. The plan will focus on identifying and prioritizing active transportation infrastructure projects, programs and policies to meet the needs of the community, identifying opportunities to make it easier for people to walk, bike and use mobility devices to get around. These facilities will connect residents and visitors with schools, parks, businesses, health care, transit and other important destinations.

“What’s really exciting is this is an active transportation plan for rural communities,” says Justi. “This study is working out how we might link rural communities via active transportation and provide better infrastructure so residents can walk and ride in rural communities (which tend to be more auto centric), providing access to vital jobs and services.”

Skiers, hikers and snowshoers can enjoy easy, family-friendly groomed trails leading from the Nordic Ski Center. Photo provided by SORA

Mt. Shasta Nordic Center upgrades, core mission continues

Planning and implementing the various phases of these two projects has not diverted the hardworking SORA staff and volunteers from realizing some significant improvements to the Mt. Shasta Nordic Center, a mecca for local winter sports enthusiasts. In 2022, SORA was awarded a $1.1M California State Parks and Recreation/Regional Park Program grant for the Nordic Center Facilities Upgrade & Connected Community Trails Project. The funding provides for a new guest services lodge, double vault toilet, interpretive signs, maintenance area with two trailers and the new 5.6-mile section of Gateway trail. Work on the grant funded projects is underway, with the new vault toilet installed in November 2023 and the new guest services lodge under construction as of fall 2024.

The Nordic Center Master Development Plan calls for the purchase of new skis, boots, poles and bindings for the rental center, which is underway thanks to funding from The McConnell Fund of Community Foundation of the North State. SORA is also looking for funding to purchase equipment for plowing the Nordic Center parking lot, as well as provide for additional thinning of hazard trees along Nordic trails.

But to the SORA staff, the most important community benefit of the Nordic Center is their school program, a core mission of the center. Staff reaches out to schools to invite groups to come out to the Nordic Center and participate in a learn-to-ski-program and integrate their curriculum with experiences at the Nordic Center. Schools are eager to participate and the program is booked solid every year. “People think that we live in these rural communities and so we are close to the national forest, to the Nordic Center and close to trails,” Renee says. “The expectation is that kids and families are going to frequent these areas. But so often we hear during the school trips to the Nordic Center that this is the first time they’ve been on snow. It is so important to us to get kids out to have an experience that they would otherwise not be likely to have.”

SORA is working on many fronts to strengthen local communities and build resilience in its residents. Justi sums up the driving purpose behind their work. “We know that in rural communities, recreation and time in nature is how people socialize and build culture. It contributes to the local economy and is connected to education, to mental and physical health.”

If you would like to donate to support SORA’s ongoing vital community work, go to siskiyououtdooralliance.org. To receive information on future volunteer opportunities, click the Sign Up button at the bottom of the webpage to sign up for their newsletter.