Mission Statement
Conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of the Eastern Shore.
Mission Statement
Conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of the Eastern Shore.
The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy in Easton, Maryland, is seeking a qualified and creative web designer or digital marketing agency to design, develop, and implement a WordPress-based website for the Maryland Eastern Shore Trail Network.
RFP Timeline*:
*All dates are subject to change with or without notice.
About Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
We are a nonprofit charitable organization with a mission to conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Since its founding in 1990, when there was widespread concern that the region’s important wildlife habitat and prime farmland were being consumed by sprawling development, ESLC has established a record of land preservation that far exceeds any other conservancy in the state and is one of the most successful in the country. We have permanently protected approximately 65,000 acres of farms and forest and provided new public access to parks, farmland, hiking trails, urban gardens, and the Chesapeake Bay.
The threats to the region have never been greater, as climate change and development of all kinds continue to pressure the fundamental rural and agricultural quality of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Under new leadership since 2021, ESLC continues to pursue land preservation while influencing policies that can help local landowners and leaders more effectively implement conservation, benefit natural resources, and sustain the region’s character. This includes pioneering innovative land protection programs in an effort to help farms stay viable, assisting younger generations of farmers in becoming landowners, and helping landowners and communities to discover, evaluate, and implement the land preservation options available to them.
We have a team of 11 full-time staff members and a 19-person Board of Directors. Your partners in the design process will primarily be ESLC’s Director of Land Use and Policy – Owen Bailey.
Project Description
ESLC is accepting proposals for the design and development of a website from concept to completion for the Maryland Eastern Shore Trail Network. This group is still developing a strategic plan but has a Mission, Vision, and Values Statement.
We’re looking for an engaging, user-friendly design that is optimized to convert visitors to email subscribers, maximizes time spent on the site, and makes our value proposition crystal clear. An effective design will showcase our partnerships, events, news content, and trail projects from around the Eastern Shore. We are also interested in showcasing the value trails bring to communities.
In the design phase, the contractor will provide a set of mockups to approve. Copywriting and photo research/acquisition will be assigned to and done by ESLC. Approved copy and photos/videos will be provided to the contractor ahead of the development phase. We would prefer two rounds of QA on the fully coded site on a staging server before going live.
The finished product should be easily updated by non-technical staff and incorporate a WYSIWYG interface. This project should therefore include the creation of templates that empower ESLC to make new pages and posts as needs arise. There should also be a training phase just ahead of site launch, when the contractor can give ESLC staff the tools they need to maintain the website, create new content and allow staff to easily do backups of the site.
The Maryland Eastern Shore Trail Network has a domain name (mestn.org and mestn.com) and has a WordPress account.
Key Objectives and Considerations
To be effective, our new website must:
The successful candidate will be an excellent project manager with a demonstrated track record of communicating openly and regularly throughout a project. They will be skilled in WordPress development, have knowledge of current digital marketing trends, and be mindful of website accessibility. Preference will be given to contractors with knowledge of the unique challenges of nonprofits.
Proposal Requirements
All proposals for this contract should include:
Proposals may only be submitted by email. Send a single PDF by link or attachment to Owen Bailey at obailey@eslc.org by no later than 11:59pm ET on July 8, 2024.
ESLC reserves the right to reject any or all bids, accept or reject any or all items in the proposals, and/or award the contract in whole or in part as deemed to be in the best interest of the organization. ESLC reserves the right to cancel, delay, amend, or reissue this RFP at any time.
Each respondent submitting a proposal will be notified via email of ESLC’s decision concerning their proposal.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a region rich in diversity of all kinds, from our people to our natural resources. The future of this iconic place depends on the engagement of everyone, from all backgrounds and experiences. ESLC values diversity in all its forms and encourages all qualified individuals to submit a proposal for this project.
Thank you for your interest.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on Celebrate Trails Day. Even though the weather did not support our events we still received tremendous support for trails from our attendees and local governments. And thank you to all the towns and counties who passed proclamations for Celebrate Trails Day. We appreciate your support and recognition of the value that trails bring to our communities, economies, environment, and mental and physical health. We look forward to working with you and supporting your efforts to build more trails in your communities.
JANUARY 2024 UPDATE
Thanks to the work of the Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative with support from the Mid-Shore Regional Council, and the Rural Maryland Council, the Eastern Shore has a new Trail Map. This map shows existing and planned trails on the Eastern Shore, as well as railroad routes for potential rails-to-trails projects. It also shows our Vision Map that trail advocates created at our initial workshop in April 2022. We hope that this map can help and inspire local governments and advocates to develop more trails to join this growing network.
Trails bring an immense amount of value to any community in the connections they create and the opportunities they foster. Many people have sought trails during the COVID-19 pandemic for exercise and outdoor reaction. As each county concludes and publishes their Land Preservation Parks and Restoration Plan (LPPRP), we must recognize the collective support for more trails, longer trails, and trails that connect to more places. With the release of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s map of off-road protected trails, we have to grapple with the fact that the Eastern Shore is trailing behind many of its neighbors in regards to trail planning and development. Now is the time for a broader discussion on an Eastern Shore Trail Network and a Coalition to get things moving.
In June 2023, the Eastern Shore Regional Trails Network was selected by National Park Service – Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (NPS-RTCA) as a 2023 “community assistance project.” The designation means that this recently-formed, Shore-wide consortium of partners, led by Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, will receive support for one year in the form of invaluable, one-on-one expertise and technical support from National Park Service. The Eastern Shore Regional Trails Network partnership is a newly-formed group of community organizations working to connect with stakeholders, initiate the first new trails across the region, and build a regional trails coalition to serve as an advocating body for trail resources. Currently, the Eastern Shore Regional Trails Network Steering Committee is working to accomplish an Eastern Shore Greenway Plan, expansion of connection with stakeholders, and the formation of a regional trail coalition.
Eastern Shore Trail Network Steering Committee Members
Routes suggested by Trail Workshop 2022 Attendees
Attendees of the Regional Trail Workshop work with others from their locality of the Eastern Shore to identify potential trail routes
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