"We've worked to make the department site more user-friendly, and more valuable to the public," said Dan DuBray, senior content manager for the Web project.

The Department's new look was designed by the agency's National Business Center, a group that develops Web pages and handles other media functions. The site was modeled after other successful sites, including the White House and CNN sites, DuBray said.

The site's new home page has quick links to each of Interior's eight bureaus and major initiatives, such as Take Pride in America, Improving National Parks, and Water 2025.

The site also contains easier-to-find information on news items that involve Interior and public resources, such as national parks..

The new look was part of a multi-year effort to upgrade and standardize all of the Department's agency web sites.

In Utah, the Interior Department's water agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, has also undergone a website face lift. Reclamation's Salt Lake Regional Office site, located at www.usbr.gov/uc/, as well as its Provo Area Office site, at www.usbr.gov/uc/provo, are intended to provide information on water related programs and current water related federal actions.

"This new corporate look is designed to make Reclamation more accessible to the public and give them more of what they want, easier and quicker," says Don Merrill, public involvement specialist for the Provo office.

(Parts of this article were written by Randall Edwards of Federal Computer Week).