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A Publication Featuring The Information
Services Technology of Maine State Government
| Volume VII, Issue 5 | May 2004 |
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By Tim Glidden
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The Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) Program (www.maine.gov/spo/lmf) was created in 1987 in response to concerns over the loss of critical natural areas and wildlife habitat, along with traditional access to undeveloped lands for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation. To date, the Program has protected over 192,000 acres of Maine’s best natural areas. It also seeks to protect farmlands through the purchase of development rights, and public access to water for fishing, boating, and commercial marine activities.
With public access to these wonderful areas such an essential part of the program, LMF has wrestled with how best to inform Maine citizens and visitors of the location of the properties. In addition, providing advice to visitors on the suitable uses of these lands is important to ensure good stewardship.
LMF had added a feature to its website in 1999 as the Legislature and public were considering the most recent land conservation bond. A map of the state located the individual LMF projects and a list of projects in the margin provided links to more detailed descriptions of each site. However, the map itself was not interactive, the list became unwieldy as the number of projects mounted, few pictures were included, and the individual project descriptions provided no links to additional information. In short the program had outgrown the limitations of this format. |
Rangeley Region: http://www.maine.gov/spo/lmf/projects/project_detail.php?project=1564 |
To remedy this situation, LMF recently undertook a comprehensive overhaul of its website including this “project directory” feature. Thanks to the generous support of L.L. Bean (www.llbean.com) and the assistance of the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy (http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/maine/), it is now possible to browse, search, and list a comprehensive database of LMF funded land conservation projects. A search engine and interactive locator map allow searches by region and keyword. Each project description includes driving directions, a list of appropriate uses (indicated by widely recognized, standard icons) and a short description of the project and the history of its conservation. Where appropriate, links are provided to additional information which may include site maps and access to the agencies and organizations actually owning the properties.
Another important benefit of this new system to the LMF staff is the ease with which they can now maintain LMF Project Center content. The new LMF Project Center, designed and developed by Digital Goat Consulting Services (www.digitalgoat.net), is driven by a web-enabled database which facilitates site maintenance enormously. Under the old site design, updates required redesign of the locator map every time a project was added and HTML programming was required to actually add the content. With the new system, projects are easily added to the web site using a web based administrative screen. After signing into a secured administrative area, content and photos can be added to the web site without requiring any programming skills. Text, pictures, icons, and locator maps can all be added using automated tools. The new information is stored in the web site’s database and automatically appears in the project directory, search results, and regional map without any additional administrative work.
As summer approaches, take a moment to check out the new features of LMF’s website and plan an expedition to one of Maine’s most treasured natural areas!
For more information on the Land for Maine Future’s Program and land conservation in Maine, call Tim Glidden at LMF: 207-287-1487 or email him at tim.glidden@maine.gov. Tim has been the LMF Director for just over two years. Before coming to LMF, he worked at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the state’s leading environmental advocacy group. He worked for 11 years at the Office of Policy and Legal Analysis at Maine’s Legislature were he was the Principle Analyst for natural resource issues. Tim has a masters in forestry sciences and has worked in natural resource policy in Maine and New England for thirty years.
