The Connected Communities Project is a visionary effort led in partnership with the US Forest Service, SBTS, and community partners to connect 15 mountain towns for economic prosperity through outdoor recreation – an $887 billion industry. It will create a vision for a recreation-focused lifestyle through community investment, shared stewardship, economic opportunity, and important new local jobs, all benefiting economically disadvantaged communities in California’s Plumas, Sierra, Butte, and Lassen Counties. Our work will include planning, environmental review, trail creation, and maintenance of trails. It is the intent of this project to diversify recreation throughout the region, provide economic stability as well as support fire recovery and prevention efforts. This project will create a learning landscape for outdoor and environmental education programs that include youth employment and volunteer participation. The end goal is to build the proposed Lost Sierra Route, paying homage to the region and the historic Gold Rush-era mail delivery route.