Expanded Coos Watershed Association Website

Organization Information:

Organization Name:
Coos Watershed Association
City & State:
Charleston , 
Oregon
Organization Website:
http://www.cooswatershed.org
Organization's Mission Statement
To provide a framework to coordinate and implement proven management practices, and test promising new management practices, designed to promote environmental integrity and economic stability for communities of the Coos watershed.

Submission Information

Impact Essay
A combination of donated Adobe and Dreamweaver software and a new AmeriCorps intern in 2009 have allowed the Coos Watershed Association to expand their website to better reflect their varied projects and accomplishments and to better engage the local community. Our AmeriCorps intern when she arrived less than three months ago found an outdated website void of photos and case studies and a local community that said "I didn't know the Watershed Association even had a website." These problems were remedied with a combination of research, hard work, and great Adobe software. Now the Coos Watershed Association webpage is a colorful, ever-changing source of information for local landowners, state organizations, staff members, and supporting foundations. The donated software gives us complete and direct control over the appearance and content of the Coos Watershed Association website. This allows us to update the pages daily as new events are scheduled, new donors are registered, new Board members are added, and new publications are completed. The quick accomplishments of our AmeriCorps intern such as completing two annual reports, a newsletter, and dozens of website improvements in her first three months would not have been possible without access to quality Adobe software. She has been able to reconnect with our Friends of the Coos Watershed community support group, which had been stagnant for over a year due to staff constraints. Additionally, the first-ever Coos Watershed Association newsletter in March of 2009 was met with great excitement by the staff, the Board of Directors, and the Friends of the Coos Watershed. Highlights of the expanded website include: -- An events list and event highlight section: http://www.cooswatershed.org/events -- A press release database: http://www.cooswatershed.org/publicity -- A landowner resource page: http://www.cooswatershed.org/landowner -- A newsletter archive: http://www.cooswatershed.org/2009_newsletter -- A volunteer opportunities database: http://www.cooswatershed.org/volunteer -- A clickable map of assessment areas: http://www.cooswatershed.org/outreach It is still early to quantify the environmental impact of this expanded website, but we feel sure that this more informative website will allow media, volunteers, donors, landowners, and board members to become more comfortable with the Coos Watershed Association and the resources we offer. This should result in more media coverage, larger volunteer and community involvement events, and more restoration projects with landowners over the next year.
Submission Category
Environmental Impact Other Media
Project Image
cooswatershed.org_.jpg