Courtney Moulton ’16 started as a Media and Graphic Design Supervisor for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) in 2019. Little did she know her time in the office would be cut short due to the pandemic. Luckily for her, the great outdoors was the best cure for battling the isolation of COVID. This gave Courtney the opportunity to embrace the change and offer fresh on and offline opportunities for the Maine community!

“I started working at the Department in December in 2019, so I have now worked from home longer than I have worked in the office.” Courtney continues to explain that the pandemic has pushed her to be more flexible and organic with marketing and communication efforts, “You have to adjust to what is going on and listen to what your target audiences want and need… It also meant we had to keep safety messaging at the forefront.” So, they started offering virtual field trips for children and their families and even did some virtual behind the scenes of how the moose are fed at the Maine Wildlife Park and the Maine Warden Service K9 team’s newest K9s!

“Maine has over 32,000 miles of rivers and streams, 6,000 lakes and ponds, and millions of acres of land, so there is plenty of space and opportunity to be outside hiking, fishing, hunting, kayaking, wildlife watching, and more all while maintaining proper physical distancing and following CDC guidelines.” Courtney and the team at MDIFW wanted to encourage Mainers to take advantage of their surroundings to help with mental health and overall wellbeing during such crazy times.