Portland, Ore. – Ecotrust has re-launched its popular Inforain website, presenting an internet-based information system dedicated to knowledge integration in the areas of spatial analysis, web-based applications development and socio-economic assessment. Offering data for download, utilizing open-source technologies and publishing under Creative Commons licenses, Inforain embodies Ecotrust’s commitment to open, adaptive and collaborative learning.
“Ecotrust is working to be the ‘go-to’ organization for decision-support tools that integrate natural and social science for conservation outcomes,” says Astrid Scholz, Vice President of Ecotrust Knowledge Systems. The Inforain website will present that work, and more, to a larger public.
Since 1996, Inforain has presented an online atlas for the temperate rain forest / Pacific salmon region of North America. Collected there are the results of Ecotrust’s ongoing project to describe and model land- and sea-scape productivity across the region, and to quantify and assess the social, ecological and economic benefits of alternative resource management systems.
New to Inforain is the watershed locator, an innovative tool that allows users across the Pacific salmon territory of North America to identify and learn about their watersheds. The “Find Your Watershed” project was entered in the NetSquared Mashup Challenge, which highlights the accomplishments of web-based innovators working on issues that create social change. The public can vote for the project March 17–24.
Inforain also features new maps, data layers, atlases, reports, slides and decision support tools—the results of ongoing programmatic and contractual work by Ecotrust and partners. Examples of recent additions are the Market Design for Limited Access Privileges Programs in U.S. Fisheries report, the Socioeconomic Indicators as a Complement to Life Cycle Assessment slideshare and the Google Earth layer – LEED buildings in Washington and Oregon.
About Ecotrust
Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates environmental, social and economic value. For 17 years, Ecotrust has created, capitalized and catalyzed innovative ways to protect and restore environmental conditions while fostering economic opportunities in the temperate rain forest/Pacific salmon region that stretches from Alaska to California. We work at home, in our own bioregion, in ways that can be replicated elsewhere.