NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. – Soon, hundreds of rural households in forested and mountainous neighborhoods like Blue Tent, Banner Mountain and Donner Summit will have access to fast, reliable internet thanks to more than two decades of hard work by county staff putting critical foundations in place.

A map showing a large swath of properties stretches out east and north nearly from Edwards Crossing on the South Yuba River to Harmony Ridge and Blue Tent.

“This is our big expansion into Nevada City,” said Devin Koch of Oasis Broadband, a locally-run company started 21 years ago in Truckee. Koch started Oasis Broadband when he and his neighbors who lived on the side of a mountain couldn’t get service.

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Oasis Broadband is running the last mile of wireless networks through challenging topography – rocky river canyons, hilly, forested terrain and alpine environments using antennas at strategic locations that work like miniature cell phone towers. Some of the work Oasis does is only viable because of support from County programs.

On Tuesday, Nevada County Board of Supervisors approved $778,426, the third round of Last Mile Grants that will help fund small local companies like Oasis Broadband and provide additional connections in rural stretches of Nevada City, South County and Donner Summit.

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“Accessible and affordable broadband is essential to our economy, our education system and our healthcare in this country.  We have worked diligently for years to be shovel ready for funding coming from the state and federal governments, and our goal is to work with local providers on these projects. Every additional household we connect is a win for our residents and our economy,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Heidi Hall.

The Last Mile Grant program was the first of its kind in the state providing seed money that serves as a catalyst for building success. It’s become a model for other rural counties such as Napa and Placer and is part of the County’s 20-year history preparing to be shovel-ready when state and federal dollars start rolling in. 

“This will be our third round and hopefully it’s something we can continue to do year after year,” said Steve Monaghan, former Director of Information and General Services for Nevada County. Monaghan, who retired in December, was instrumental in positioning Nevada County as a leader in broadband during his 25-year career.

In addition to grants, County staff support local providers through advocacy and by streamlining planning and environmental review processes, helping to bring everyone to the table.

“County government has no regulatory or oversight authority whatsoever over broadband, yet there is an expectation as a community that we will solve the broadband problem. We’re not a utility provider but we’re trying to make it as attractive as possible. We’ve been working on this problem for 20 years. What’s different now? We’re just starting to see that money get awarded.

Now there is a unique opportunity,” said Monaghan.

 Bridging the Digital Divide

Throughout rural California and less populated areas of Nevada County, internet connectivity is spotty at best. According to a 2023 survey, only 23 percent of residents rated the quality of their affordable high-speed internet as excellent or good.

Folks without fast internet suffer social impacts when they are disconnected from mainstream society, including isolation, inability to connect to virtual medical appointments, stay up-to-date with current news and entertainment, file taxes or stay connected with friends and family. There are economic disadvantages, too, such as limited ability to telework and youth run the risk of falling behind in school.

“Our whole society has moved to these online services,” said Monaghan.

Within the foothills and mountainous areas of the Sierra Nevada, different populations require different technology. Using “Point to Multipoint” architecture for customer connections, Oasis Broadband is bringing Internet connections to tree-dense, snow-heavy areas like the communities of Harmony Ridge, Donner Summit, Blue Tent and Scotts Flat Reservoir. Cable internet is poor to non-existent in these areas due to its sparsely populated nature.

Five years ago, Oasis Broadband was awarded funding through the first round of Nevada County’s Last Mile Grants program, helping to usher in hundreds of broadband connections in the Prosser Dam area of Truckee. Oasis Broadband was the first company to provide high speed Internet in most of Lake Tahoe including parts of Truckee, Olympic Valley, the Lake Tahoe West Shore, Tahoe Vista and Alpine Meadows. 

“This grant funding allowed our community to grow using emerging remote work technology through a broadband connection. Our lives focus on being connected and our rural way of life is contingent on connected homes and people who can reach emergency services, information, work and family. We are grateful we have positioned ourselves to capitalize on all the state funding in this arena,” said District 5 Supervisor Hardy Bullock.

With county support, small companies like Oasis Broadband are making a big difference by providing affordable options to those least served by cable, cell or satellite. For a dozen years, Oasis has worked with Nevada County staff and coordinated with other local ISP community members as part of a regional Broadband Task Force. It’s a cross pollination of expertise with backgrounds in economic development, planning, public works, IT and even the County library has a representative. Currently, the library provides relief for many with 250 hotspots for checkout.

The County assists ISPs with permits through the Planning Department and with Public Works to dig trenches. They even collaborate with social services and the local food bank to provide low cost connectivity programs for underserved members of the community.

“It takes the whole width of the county to really do it well. Under County CEO Alison Lehman’s leadership and direction we’ve built this diverse team that’s really helped us be a model for other communities,” said Monaghan. 

History & Funding

In existence since 2019, Nevada County’s Last Mile Broadband Grant program has provided resources to new and existing ISPs to invest in building broadband infrastructure. The program supports economic development, public safety, remote learning, telehealth services and community prosperity. It’s a synergy that connects rural neighborhoods to a swiftly changing online world, and the first model created in the state.

With the recent batch of funding, smaller locally-owned companies will focus on tricky outlying areas with extreme winter storms around Nevada City, Donner Summit, Kingvale, Norden and Soda Springs. In the southern reaches of the county, AT&T will focus on portions of the greater McCourtney Road area stretching from North to South including portions of the Higgins Corner area.

For years, County teams established the policies, programs and infrastructure groundwork that gave providers a leg up and the support they needed to tap into significant state and federal dollars now beginning to funnel into the county at an accelerating rate. In 2021, Broadband became a standalone Board Objective because of the quality of life benefits to the community.

“Nevada County has been one of the most proactive counties in the state. They have been mentioned as a pioneer,” said Devin Koch of Oasis Broadband.

With significant state and federal funding coming into communities for broadband now, Nevada County has been working to be ready to pull in funding and implement projects to get more residents connected to high-speed internet. Besides the Last Mile Grant program, the County has invested in a Countywide Environmental Impact Report, a “Dig Once” Policy and a Broadband Towers Ordinance to streamline the planning process.

In 2021, Governor Newsom signed SB 156 directing the California Department of Technology to develop a statewide, open-access middle-mile network, providing $3.25 billion to build infrastructure to bring internet connectivity to homes, businesses and community institutions.

In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration passed over $40 Billion to connect everyone in America to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet, the largest internet investment in history. At the time, more than 8.5 million households and small businesses did not have high-speed internet infrastructure.  The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program—a $42.45 billion grant program issued to states was administered by the Department of Commerce.

“Now the government is finally realizing the public is so desperate and traditional ISPs refuse to invest in the remote, low profit areas. Progressive counties are ready to give money at the county, state and federal level,” said Koch.

Good for the Economy

In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal brought electricity to remote rural corners of the country through the Rural Electrification Act. In the same vein, the need for fast internet has become an essential path to grow the economy.

Without reliable high speed internet, several businesses have moved out of the county. Lack of connectivity can also be a barrier to home sales.

Andrew Wilkinson started Nevada County Fiber five years ago motivated by his frustration with limited high speed internet at his forested home at the top of Red Dog Road. At the time, he had the decision to move or fix the problem.

“It’s just terrible if you don’t have high speed internet these days you’ll get left behind,” Wilkinson said.

Now he is helping his neighbors. Just as Covid was starting in the spring of 2020, with help from the county’s Last Mile Program, he was able to launch his company and access state funding. The grant stimulated people like him to come out of the woodwork, tap into county resources  and qualify for millions of dollars in state and federal grants.

“Nevada County wanted to make it as easy as possible for providers like me. Having the Environmental Impact Report and the California Environmental Quality Act requirements done is a big help to providers. The county bit the bullet and made the investment,” said Wilkinson.

That investment is paying off. So far, Nevada County Fiber has connected 56 households by leveraging county support to attract millions of dollars in state and federal grants.

Nevada County Fiber was recently awarded a California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Federal Funding Account award totaling $6.7 million for 215 homes on Banner Mountain.  Coupled with other competitive state grants awarded to Nevada County Fiber, the County’s investment has helped them bring in over $7.5 million in funding to Nevada County.

Of the $75 million allocated to Nevada County from CPUC Federal Funding Account Awards, $15M has been awarded. It’s the second highest rural allocation in California, with an additional $60 million coming in the future.

“We will be working our way down Banner Lava Cap and Wings of Morning. There’s a lot of connections to make. Without the government subsidies it would not be viable,” he said.

Nevada County Fiber stands out for providing service in an area that intimidates a lot of bigger providers. By burying fiber underground, areas of Banner are getting reliable service year-round despite the dense forests, winding roads, snow in winter, power outages and wildfire danger in summer.

With the influx of work secured by the grant funding, his son, Elijahblue, a recent graduate of California State University with a degree in Finance, has returned home to join the family business.

“By the time we finish the next grant we should be a well-oiled machine. We’re really excited to start something for the next generation,” said Wilkinson

Learn more at: http://www.nevadacountyca.gov/broadband.

Laura Petersen is a freelance writer living in Grass Valley. This is one of a series of articles written on behalf of Nevada County. She can be reached at laurapetersenmedia@gmail.com.