Crystal Springs Watershed

When the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services wanted to create a digital version of their popular walking tour of the Crystal Springs Watershed, we were tasked with telling the story of a vital urban watershed through multiple perspectives. One that spoke of community, nature, stewardship, land, and water.

It had to be visually compelling, have different forms of media, easy to use and navigate, and designed in a way that provided capacity-building both for City representatives and community-based groups.

We decided to create a simple multimedia map using the ArcGIS Storymap platform, and conducted oral histories through a series of interviews with community members and experts. Emphasizing capacity-building and collaboration, we used a simple design thinking process to help City staff members think creatively through goals and prototyping, and created a set of toolkits and trainings to allow them to edit and refine the map over time.