Welcome to our website

We are proud to showcase our website that we launched in early 2018. From the home page to the last page, the entire site was rewritten and redesigned based on customer research and usability data.

We changed to a new, more intuitive web address – ecology.wa.gov.
Our website is mobile friendly for the first time.
It’s designed to meet the highest standards of accessibility for users of all abilities.
Content is streamlined so information is easier to find.

What’s new?

Our web address

Because our web address has changed, it means that all of our links have changed. So, if you’ve bookmarked pages, you’ll need to update those.

Completely redesigned

Since launching our first website in 1994, there have been some refinements – but nothing like this total rebuild. After 23 years of content accumulation and less-than-ideal user-testing results, we started over. Over the course of three years, we worked closely with web design and usability experts to create a more user-friendly site. Click through the tabs below to browse some of our site improvements.

Finding what you're looking for is easy with the "I want to..." links found on most pages. During our user testing, this became one of our most popular features. We hope you find it helpful, too. The "I want to..." box is designed to give users:

Quick, easy access to top tasks.
Links to related pages and tasks.
A simple way to find important information, popular topics, and current issues.

Our website is designed to support all users, including those with disabilities. The website is compliant with WCAG 2.0 level AA standards and is designed to meet the requirements of Washington State Policy 188, and Section 508 of the federal Workforce Rehabilitation Act. What does that mean? It means our website is designed with:

Easy-to-read font sizes.
Ample white space around text.
Easy-to-read headings and formatting.
High contrast color palettes.
Alt-text to describe images.
Captioning and transcripts for video and audio.
Alternative formats for complex materials or infographics.

We're now mobile friendly! Visitors with smartphones and tablets are our fastest growing user group. Our website automatically adjusts to any browser or screen size, and all website features are designed to work with mobile browsers. Our website:

Uses a simple and intuitive mobile menu design.
Has a responsive design that adjusts for all screen sizes, and can resize to mobile view, even in a desktop browser.

We have also protected our website by using an authorized SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. This means that all web traffic is encrypted and securely transmitted for your protection. You can verify this by looking for https:// in the address bar.

We've integrated our public involvement calendar

Our event listing is displayed prominently on our homepage and is also linked from every page in the third column of the footer.

This feature lists all of our opportunities for public engagement and feedback in one central place. Users can easily find:

Public hearings and meetings.
Webinars.
Workshops.
Trainings.

This also is where you will find open public comment periods and conveniently provide comments right from the website on our draft rules and other proposals.

It’s a work in progress

We’ve worked really hard to launch a site that is ready to fire on all cylinders. That said, it is new, and we anticipate some growing pains. While we launched with what we thought was the highest priority content, we continue to build new content on the site every day. If you have suggestions, or come across any challenges or issues, please reach out to us through our online comment form. We’re ready to fix problems quickly.

Our Wayback Machine

For a fun trip down memory lane, check out how our website has changed through the years. Every picture tells a story.

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology webpage in September 2000.

Our homepage in 2000

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology homepage in 2003.

Our homepage in 2003

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology homepage in 2006.

Our homepage in 2006

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology homepage in 2009.

Our homepage in 2009

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology homepage in 2015.

Our homepage in 2015

A screenshot of the Department of Ecology homepage in 2016.

Our most recent homepage, published in 2016

A screenshot of the current Department of Ecology homepage.

Our current homepage

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