As local entrepreneurs, we don't really benefit from tourism the way people might assume. Most trekking agencies buy what they need in Kathmandu — only about a third buy supplies here in Taplejung Bazaar, the district headquarters — and less than half hire porters based in the Kanchenjunga area at all.
Tourists can help by insisting on local guides and porters when they book, and by asking their agency to buy food in the district instead of Kathmandu — where that's possible; some things just aren't available here.
Some traders and cattle owners in the conservation area run hotels during the tourist season. Their herds have shrunk a little — they sold cattle to invest in their hotels — but they're not fully dependent on tourism; they can still live off their business either way.
The bigger problem for growth here is accessibility. Flights only land when the sky is clear, since pilots fly by sight — during the monsoon it's almost always too cloudy. And the roads are in poor shape, especially in the rains. They need to be fixed, for tourists, yes, but mostly for the people who live here.
For Taplejung's entrepreneurs, the obstacle isn't demand — it's the road in.