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Digital Innovation for the Environment

Two decades of milestone projects in the environment sector

Portland Webworks, along with our public sector brand, GovWebworks, has been supporting digital innovation for the environment, including conservation and recreation, since 2001. Our first project with the Maine Department of Tourism promoted recreation in our home state of Maine, among other initiatives, which led to further projects around recreation, conservation, and the environment. This work has included web redesign and redevelopment initiatives as well as enterprise-level hosting and software development.

After two decades innovating for clients in this sector, we’re looking back at some milestones.

2020s

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Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks: Drupal website development and migration

GovWebworks partnered with Treinen Associates to develop a user-friendly, fully functional website for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP), which manages state conservation, wildlife, and outdoor recreation resources. After a detailed discovery phase, including user research, persona development, and design planning, GovWebworks migrated MDWFP’s site from Umbraco to Drupal 10, creating a streamlined, SEO-optimized platform. The new site enhances MDWFP’s ability to manage content independently, freeing technical staff for other tasks, and offers Mississippians improved access to parks, wildlife management areas, and educational resources on hunting, fishing, and conservation.

Missouri Department of Conservation: Teacher & research portal development

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) enlisted GovWebworks to modernize the Teacher and Research Portals using Drupal 10 in order to enhance functionality and align the design with MDC’s main site. The Teacher Portal offers educators resources on conservation, such as curriculum guides and grant opportunities, while the Research Portal supports tracking conservation projects. The project included theming, data migration, automation updates, and the creation of views and dashboards. Both portals now provide improved content management and data handling, ensuring a seamless experience for users and efficient tools for staff, educators, and researchers.

Center for the New Energy Economy: Application rebuild

GovWebworks collaborated with Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University to revamp the Advanced Energy Legislation (AEL) Tracker and State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT), key data tools supporting clean energy policy. These tools faced challenges with outdated technology, poor mobile responsiveness, difficult navigation, and a need for refreshed branding. GovWebworks addressed these issues by modernizing the technology stack for better scalability, security, and performance, and enhancing usability and accessibility with mobile-friendly, intuitive navigation, and improved data visualization. The redesign improved search functions, made legislative data more transparent, and created an interface that aligns with CNEE’s branding. Now, users experience an efficient, inclusive, and informative platform that fosters trust and supports CNEE’s mission to advance the clean energy economy.

Colorado Avalanche Information Center: Drupal website redesign

To enhance public safety in avalanche-prone Colorado, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) partnered with GovWebworks to modernize its site, making avalanche data accessible and user-friendly. CAIC needed an updated CMS and improved data presentation to better inform and protect users. GovWebworks implemented a Drupal CMS with a custom, mobile-friendly interface that integrates the AvIDfx database, providing real-time avalanche forecasts. The site’s focal map allows users to interact with color-coded polygons and sliding information trays that display avalanche risk levels, with accessibility features like semantic markup, alt text, and focus states for assistive technologies. The site not only enhances public safety but also won W3 and Web Excellence Awards in 2023.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: Usability analysis

GovWebworks was selected to conduct a foundational analysis to inform the future redevelopment of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) outdated website (ODFW.com). Key activities included gathering and analyzing feedback from a broad cross-section of internal and external stakeholders to understand their current expectations and future needs for the site. This research covered aspects like content organization, navigation, and online functionality to replace manual processes (e.g., fillable forms). Feedback segmented by user demographics identified specific needs, preferences, and patterns among key internal stakeholders (e.g., ODFW personnel and leadership) and external groups (e.g., conservation nonprofits, veterans, BIPOC outdoor groups). The deliverable of a comprehensive report provided ODFW with prioritized feedback themes to guide the structure and functionality of the new website.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Fisheries tracking application

GovWebworks is currently partnering with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), a division of Colorado Department of Natural Resources. We are developing a custom, cloud-based solution for tracking and managing fish production, stocking, transfers, salvaging, and diagnostic operations across Colorado’s hatchery and aquatic research facilities. This tailored SaaS-style platform will support seamless statewide data sharing and coordination, with an intuitive, user-friendly interface designed to meet CPW’s specific needs. Key features include a high-performance single-page web application with modern conveniences like in-field editing, type-ahead lookups, and compatibility across desktop and mobile devices.

2010s

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Missouri Department of Conservation: Site redesign & ongoing enhancement

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) selected GovWebworks via public RFP to provide ongoing website redevelopment and user experience enhancements for their Drupal-based platform. GovWebworks began with projects including GIS mapping integration and the development of a 508 Accessibility Task Management portal to ensure compliance with WCAG standards. Additionally, a chatbot pilot was introduced to explore AI-driven conversational interfaces.

MDC then partnered with GovWebworks to consolidate three separate primary public facing sites into their main Drupal platform and public site to improve content management, user experience, and technical updates for their 5.5 million annual visitors. GovWebworks implemented a component-based redesign, allowing administrators to build pages using reusable content blocks and a flexible Page Builder system. A Solr-based search with faceted filtering was also added to improve navigation across the 17,500-page site. The result is a more cohesive, user-friendly platform with streamlined functionality, better content discoverability, and a seamless experience for users. In 2019, GovWebworks implemented an upgrade to the Drupal platform for the new MDC redesign.

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center: Drupal redesign

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MASSCEC) sought a professional IT vendor to modernize and maintain its web presence and tools after identifying aging resources and a lack of technical continuity in 2014. GovWebworks was selected to provide long-term software consulting and kicked off the project with a comprehensive discovery process to align with MASSCEC’s goals. Initial improvements included migrating the job board into a more robust Drupal framework and supporting a transparency initiative that focused on a user-friendly redesign and information architecture update for the main website. Launched in early 2016, the redesigned, mobile-friendly site provided improved access to information, streamlined content management for non-technical users, and multi-site control using Drupal’s Domain Access module. The result was an accessible, responsive, and effective web solution for both MASSCEC and its end users.

The Nature Conservancy: Website development

The Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program (MNRCP) uses state and federal mitigation funds to award competitive grants for projects that protect and restore natural resources across the state of Maine. The program is a potential funding source for a range of preservation and restoration projects. Any Maine conservation organization, land trust, tribe, city, town or public agency may be eligible for a grant from MNRCP. We worked with The Nature Conservancy to develop the site allowing interested organizations to apply for funding through an online Letter of Intent process. The site contains a gallery of past projects that the MNRCP has supported through annual available funds in excess of $4 million.

2000s

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Maine Department of Tourism: Multiple projects

From 2001 to 2013, Portland Webworks developed a long-term relationship with the Maine Office of Tourism, providing extensive services to enhance VisitMaine.com. Throughout the partnership, Portland Webworks collaborated with vendors and government stakeholders to meet the unique needs of varied user groups, including the public, business owners, event organizers, and administrative staff. These interactions required custom workflows and close coordination for projects, like the development of microsites for regional promotion. Portland Webworks produced innovative interactive features, such as a fish species index in partnership with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and sites for Maine wildlife information. These contributions significantly enhanced the portal’s engagement, accommodating diverse content requirements and contributing to the agency’s cohesive digital strategy for Maine tourism.

As part of the contract with Maine Office of Tourism, we also worked with:

  • Maine Campground Owner’s Association
  • Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry
  • Maine Department of Fish and Wildlife
  • Northern Maine Development Commission
  • Maine Lakes & Mountains Tourism Commission

More Environment Sector Clients

Other environmental, outdoor, and eco-oriented clients during the past two decades have included:

  • L.L.Bean
  • Lucas Tree
  • National Environmental Health Association
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Sappi

Learn more

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