If you’re looking for a quick guide…
If you’re looking for a quick guide to basic information, please visit our Transparency page.
Why a hub?
Our conservation district members gave us conflicting feedback: make our information shorter but keep providing lots of it. Our solution was this information hub, called the WACD Hub or just the Hub.
Our hope is that the Hub will become a central information source for all of our members, partners, and supporters.
The name was crafted by conservation districts
That statement from the Washington State Conservation Commission’s marketing toolkit inspired us to create an information hub to serve the needs of WACD’s member conservation districts and partners. We call it the Hub in honor of the work done by folks from conservation districts and the Conservation Commission around marketing conservation.
When we surveyed our newsletter subscribers, we learned that a portion of our audience wanted much more brevity in what we send to them. Conversely, another group wanted us to retain in-depth coverage and commentary, finding that content useful.
Those opposing points of view presented us with a conundrum.
How we arranged the home page and menu
Many topics are on the Hub home page
We reconciled those two perspectives by building an information resource that divides content into topics, making it easier for those who are only interested in a few topics to stay informed on those areas. And by presenting several topic areas on the Hub’s home page, we simultaneously expose folks to a broader range of content and ideas.
The Hub’s home page is a collection of many topics, starting with five most important items in the Featured section. Next to that is the list of the most recent articles which we call posts, and below that are upcoming events.
Then “below the fold” we present multiple topic areas with the two most recent post titles in each. It’s an easy way to scan for something that may catch your eye. Job announcements are always popular so that topic is included on the Hub home page. All of the topics are available through the main menu under Topics.
Below the grid of topics are three columns where we present imported information. To the left are headlines from news articles that identify Washington State conservation districts. In the middle are headlines of diverse articles we think may interest some of our conservation community members. And to the right are headlines from the Pacific Northwest Ag Network which always seems to have content that resonates with our community.
Resources and tools
Next to the Topics choice on the main menu is Resources. That’s where you will find contact information, the District Directory, and more.
WACD information
Next to Resources is the WACD menu item. Choose that to find out about our people and to access information about committees, dues, resolutions, and more.
Support
Finally, there is a Support menu choice that provides answers to frequent questions, lists downloadable files, and provides contact information for our two operations: the WACD Executive Office in Olympia and the WACD Plant Materials Center in Bow.
Feedback is welcome
We are always interested in hearing what works and what doesn’t, so do feel free to send us feedback at any time. We’d love to hear from you!