Must Be That Thin Air

California is noted for change, including rapid urbanization. But one of the state’s 58 counties is something of a hallmark of stability and consistency in its mountain fastness.

In releasing new population data recently, the state Department of Finance noted that on Jan. 1, 1997, the population of Alpine County was 1,180, exactly the same as it was on Jan. 1, 1996. Could it be that in helter-skelter California a whole county went through the year with no births, no deaths, no one moving in, no one moving out? Or did it just happen that a bunch of changes came out to zero? County Treasurer-Recorder Doranna Glettig says of a year without change: “That sounds right. We have one birth about every two years.”

The figures are, in fact, estimates based on a number of factors, including housing reports and auto registration. “It’s all just a guess,” said county Clerk Barbara Jones. But for the year in Alpine, it seemed to be right on. Alpine, in high-mountain solitude between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park, long has been California’s least populous county. In news accounts, it is commonly referred to as “tiny Alpine County.”

In 1990, the census gave Alpine 1,113 souls. The count subsequently fell below 1,100, but inched up slowly, until 1996.

Watch out, though. Alpine may be in for some change. “I do know of a couple of houses being built,” Glettig said. We hope they’re being built by Alpine residents and aren’t a sign of population influx.