WSRCD Press Release - The Interactive Watershed Information Model

PRESS RELEASE - January 17, 2005

Locally-developed Watershed Information Model gains National Recognition with
Excellence in Communications Award!

The interactive Watershed Information Model, or WIM, (http://wim.shastacollege.edu) has just been awarded the NACD/AEM Excellence in Communications Award from the National Association of Conservation Districts in Washington, D.C. Co-sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Excellence in Communications Award recognizes two conservation districts for their outstanding overall communications efforts. As a key project for the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, based locally in Anderson, WIM was chosen in part for its appeal to multiple audiences, watershed-driven design and successful use of Web technology. The honorable mention went to the New Castle Conservation District in Newark, Delaware.

WIM is a 24-hour resource available to anybody interested in local watershed activities on the World Wide Web. WIM covers Shasta County and parts of neighboring counties. This past fall, WIM developers completed their third update since the Website launched in August, 2003, adding the Upper Pit River. WIM offers unlimited information for visitors seeking watershed related assessments, reports, photos and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data files in an easily searchable Data Catalog. Currently, close to 900 resources exist in the Data Catalog. Other key features include extensive interactive maps, detailed watershed pages for 19 area watersheds, a 'matrix' (table) of completed and ongoing projects in the area, a monthly newsletter, a glossary of related terms, links to other interesting GIs and watershed based Websites, and the Hydrologic Cycle diagram, all available with the click of a mouse. Visitors can also find student-collected creek observation data from the Whiskeytown Environmental School which will someday be used to observe trends and habitat changes over time. The interactive maps feature seamless digital photos in the Base Data, helpful in identifying locations from a bird's eye point of view. There is much to explore on the WIM site, funded by a grant from the CALFED Bay-Delta Authority Watershed Program and California Department of Water Resources.

As top winner of the Excellence in Communications Award, the Western Shasta RCD will receive a $1000 check as well as complimentary registration to attend the NACD Annual Meeting February 5-9 in Atlanta, Georgia. Both winners will be recognized at a special ceremony held during the Wednesday evening closing banquet. There are approximately 3,000 conservation districts in the United States and all were eligible to apply with media including newsletters, special publications, broadcast media, print media, Web sites and public information campaigns. Judging was based on criteria including subject matter, creativity, clarity, overall quality/attractiveness and effective use of media with each district required to respond to questions on objective, message, audience, how the project was accomplished and whether the desired outcome was achieved. The Western Shasta RCD emphasized WIM's effectiveness as a single-source tool for local watershed information, it's strong collaboration with watershed groups, agencies and other watershed stakeholders and the success of the development team. This is national recognition for this exciting local resource.

WIM is available to view on-line now either through the Western Shasta RCD's Website (http://www.westernshastarcd.org) or directly (http://wim.shastacollege.edu). For information on the award and NACD, please visit http://www.nacdnet.org. Contact the Western Shasta RCD for more information at (530) 365-7332 and visit WIM today.