OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today rolled out a new blog, “Ear to the Ground.” This offering is the latest ‘social networking’ feature added to the department’s Web site, www.dnr.wa.gov. The blog was named Ear to the Ground to recognize DNR’s management of more than 5.6 million acres of state trust lands. The blog, along with social networking tools, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and MySpace, will help support the agency’s commitment to transparency and informing the public in how DNR makes its decisions and manages state lands. “We’ve built out a cadre of new communications tools to help tell the story of DNR to the public,” said Aaron Toso, Director of Communications & Outreach for DNR. “These new platforms allow us to communicate with the public where they are already getting their information.”
Array of new tools for public to access New tools now available on www.dnr.wa.gov include: - Ear to the Ground – http://washingtondnr.wordpress.com/ - to feature brief, timely articles about the agency and the lands and resources it manages as told through the many voices of DNR’s staff, its specialists, and notes from Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark.
- Twitter – http://twitter.com/waDNR – to provide timely updates about wildfires, burn bans, air quality alerts, emergencies (such as earthquakes and landslides), recreation site openings and closures and other agency news.
- Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/wastatednr/ – to share photos of state trust lands and conservation areas in searchable categories for the public and media to view and download.
- Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/people/Washington-Dnr/1752219634 – a place for the public to get information about environmental education or recreation on state trust lands as well as find opportunities to volunteer on recreation sites, trails, and other outdoor activities on DNR-managed state lands.
- MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/469270878 – a site DNR is using solely for Environmental Education, specifically, high school Senior Culminating Projects.
- YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/WAstateDNR – to show the public what DNR does through videos and other multimedia.
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