Get to know N-EWN

A community of researchers, practitioners, and educators working together to advance the practice of natural infrastructure.

We work across four main branches

In order to help facilitate the widespread adoption of natural infrastructure practices across the United States, we’ve identified four main areas that need additional work:

Developing methods and standards

New tools, techniques and guidance are needed to effectively plan, design, construct and operate natural infrastructure at different scales

Assessing benefits and costs

Natural infrastructure provides communities with a broad array of economic, environmental and social benefits. Improved approaches are needed to evaluate, quantify and forecast these benefits to support planning and decision making

Monitoring performance and outcomes

Technically sound, efficient and applicable methods are needed to track natural infrastructure performance over time, develop the evidence base for future designs, ensure compliance with policy and inform project operations and adaptive management

Integrating people and policy

Providing infrastructure that supports human wellbeing and equitably meets the needs of diverse communities requires integration of human values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and policies with modern communication and collaboration practices


Combining a diversity of on-the-ground experience with interdisciplinary teams.

The N-EWN community is made up of over 30 partners from industry, academia and the non-profit sector.

What N-EWN’s been up to:

  • Partner Takeover: Environmental Defense Fund

    Partner Takeover: Environmental Defense Fund

    This week, we are featuring our next partner at Network for Engineering with Nature: Environmental Defense Fund, also known as EDF. EDF started off in 1967 as a scrappy group of scientists and a lawyer fighting to save osprey from a toxic pesticide. They successfully got the pesticide banned in the United States, catapulting the…

  • July 2025 Knowledge Series: The Lower Klamath Project – The World’s Largest Dam Removal and River Restoration Project

    July 2025 Knowledge Series: The Lower Klamath Project – The World’s Largest Dam Removal and River Restoration Project

    Dave Coffman, Resource Environmental Solutions LLC  Removal of four hydropower dams (Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2, and J.C. Boyle) on the Klamath River in northern California and southern Oregon represents the largest dam removal and river restoration project in the country. The project restores free-flowing conditions and volitional fish passage to more than 400…

  • Partner Takeover: Simfero

    Partner Takeover: Simfero

    Another week, another N-EWN Partner Takeover! Howdy! Simfero is a science-based research and strategy firm operating out of the Houston, Texas region but with reach across the United States and beyond. With expertise centered around water, Simfero brings a unique blend of technical expertise, policy guidance, and stakeholder engagement to ensure thriving ecosystems and boost…

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