In 2006 The Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) responded to long-standing requests for information on social, economic, environmental and other trends in the Basin by launching the State of the Basin Initiative. The State of the Basin Initiative is a model for monitoring and reporting on social, environmental, economic and other community indicators and trends. Resulting from the work of project consultants, a volunteer working group, CBT staff and more than 50 expert advisors, The State of the Basin report and interactive website was released in 2008. In order to support the use of available information the State of the Basin initiative also included the provision of support to individuals and communities interested in understanding and using the data in addition to the launch of three pilot projects focused on advancing the use of information in planning.