Tag: natural infrastructure
-
Dunes: The resilient ecosystems at work under the sand
Dunes have garnered quite a bit of attention this year. Sure, some of that is due to the science fiction series of the same name– but we think the real-life dunes are much cooler. And don’t worry, there are no giant sandworms here. Dunes are mounds or ridges that form when sand is moved by…
-
Levee setbacks have a lot of potential co-benefits. How can we maximize them?
In a new paper published this month in WIREs Water, a team including partners from the University of Georgia Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems and US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature® program review the myriad of benefits that have been associated with an increasingly popular nature-based solution: levee setbacks. A levee is an…
-
University of Georgia introduces Natural Infrastructure Certificate for training interdisciplinary grad students
This coming fall, the University of Georgia Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems will introduce the Natural Infrastructure Graduate Certificate, a set of coursework designed for students from all disciplines to learn the skills and expertise necessary to address complex infrastructure challenges using nature-based solutions (NbS) and Engineering With Nature® (EWN) principles. “We’re very excited to…
-
July 2024 Knowledge Series: The Proposed Future of Planning for USACE Water Resources Investments
Jeff Morris, Senior Planning & Economics Consultant at Moffatt & Nichol The central theme of this presentation focuses on the evolution of Federal objectives since the proposed practices for economics analysis in 1950 to the most recently proposed USACE’s Agency Specific Procedures (ASP) for Implementation of the Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines (PR&G) for Water Resources Investments.…
-
June 2024 Knowledge Series: Design for Biodiversity: Nature-Inclusive Applications in Urban Waterfronts & Coastal Infrastructure
Dr. Ido Sella, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at ECOncrete Tech When it comes to planning and constructing coastal and marine infrastructure, promoting nature-inclusive design has multiple financial, structural and ecological benefits. Through project casestudies, we’ll explore different applications of science-driven, nature-inclusive construction and gain a deeper understanding of ecosystem services in urban and working waterfronts, as…
-
Interdisciplinary team investigate roadblocks to natural infrastructure implementation
In a recent literature review published in Science of the Total Environment, a team that included our partners at the University of Georgia, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and The Water Institute investigated the roadblocks and knowledge gaps in the pathway to natural infrastructure implementation in coastal regions. “Approximately 40% of the global…
-
May 2024 Knowledge Series: Remote Sensing Capabilities to Support EWN Projects
Molly Reid, Research Geographer and Team Lead, Christina Saltus, Research Geographer, & Glenn Suir, Research Agronomist and Adjunct Professor, USACE ERDC Environmental Lab There is an increasing opportunity and number of EWN projects seeking support to use remotely sensed data and geospatial methodologies to help quantify environmental benefits. Remote sensing approaches are expected to be instrumental in…
-
New publication: Human well-being and natural infrastructure
In a new paper published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, authors from the U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC) explore the psychological, physiological, medical, and social benefits to humans of exposure to nature, and how natural infrastructure (NI) projects can take these into account to continue to deliver those benefits. The authors…
-
April 2024 Knowledge Series: CarbonWATCH – Assessing Your Carbon Inventory at the Landscape Level Using Geospatial Technology
Grant Wiseman, Brendan Player & Dr. Martha Farella, Stantec As climate change becomes an increasing threat, and organizations across the globe are setting ambitious net zero and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, assessing, inventorying, and monitoring carbon stock in plants and soils has become vitally important to a variety of businesses and sectors. Stantec’s CarbonWATCH tool measures the…
-
Partners featured in Washington Post article on the importance of dunes for climate solutions
Our partners at the University of Florida were quoted in a new article from The Washington Post titled “Dunes aren’t just big piles of sand. Here’s why Earth needs them.” Dunes are sandy landforms that line shores, supporting vegetation and wildlife and providing protection from storm surge. They form when sand is windblown up a…