In 1990s, state, federal, and tribal agencies executed a cooperative agreement to launch the SJRBRIP to conserve and recover Colorado Pikeminnow and Razorback Suckers in the San Juan River Basin while meeting water needs of the local communities. The primary focus of the project went to mechanically removing nonnative fish (especially Channel Catfish) via electrofishing.
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Nature-Based Solutions Case Study Search
This database contains over 400 implementations of nature-based solutions. Use the filters to identify the case studies most relevant to you.
While all cases here exemplify applications of NBS strategies, they were gathered from various sources and not all were written using the framing of nature-based solutions. To qualify as a nature-based solution, a project must provide benefits to both people and nature. In some instances, the human benefits are present but not emphasized in the case write ups; these cases were included because they still provide useful information to learn from.
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After the 2018 Martin Fire, the USDA and the Nevada Department of Wildlife completed a restoration project on public and private land to rehabilitate the burned rangeland. Using herbicide and previously tested experimental seed mixes, the project sought to control cheatgrass and establish both native and non-native perennial plant species to lessen the long-term wildfire damage on the rangeland.
Planned and implemented by the Tribe’s Fish and Wildlife Department, this unique program of watershed restoration and riparian conservation has been rooted in traditional Zuni cultural values. The causes of degradation were man-made dams, channelization, and invasive plant encroachment (i.e. Tamarix pentandra). The project reintroduced 23 beavers to sites with impaired hydrologic flow regimes.
Through a collaboration with USGS, the San Carlos Apache Forest Resources Program (SCAFRP) completed an analysis of aerial photographs and remote sensing data that help them develop baseline, historical extent of these ecosystems. Their goal is to restore the ecosystems by actively managing grasslands and savannas for prevention and reversal of woody species encroachments.
Before the national park was established, Acadia’s wetlands have been dredged, ditched, or filled in, making them susceptible to invasive species, among which glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus) has become a particular threat. The NPS led the efforts for finding, removing, and researching invasive species in Acadia.
Researching Bullfrog Establishment Pathways and Control Techniques in the Yellowstone River, Montana
Scientists from USGS conducted research to study the ecological factors that facilitate bullfrog spread in the Yellowstone River and tested suppression methods. They conducted habitat modeling and detected 58 sits along 107 km of the river. Multiple field techniques were used to remove bullfrogs at various life stages from sites identified with bullfrog breeding.
The Blue River Native Fish Restoration Project aimed to establish and secure populations of native fish in the Blue River Tributary of the upper Gila River Basin. The project involved a 3-step process: 1) building a fish barrier, 2) eliminating non-native fish using mechanical techniques, and 3) translocating and monitoring native species in the lower Blue River.
The goal for restoration of the marsh located on the campus of the Rocky Hill School along the Potowomut River in East Greenwich, RI is to improve habitat for a recently discovered population of diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin). The project assembled a dataset and developed a plan to restore the marsh to increase diamondback terrapin nesting habitat.
University of Connecticut (UConn) received a permit to restore/ create wetland in compensation to mitigate the impact of its landfill disposal construction to adjacent freshwater wetlands. The remediation plan aimed to eliminate leachate discharge to surface waters while compensatory mitigation plan included restoration and creation of wetlands, vernal pool creation, and invasive and exotic plant species control.
USIBWC and the USFWS collaborated on habitat improvements for fish and wildlife on the Rio Grande Canalization Project (RGCP). USIBWC implement habitat restoration at 22 sites covering 509 acres to reduce saltcedar and increase native riparian vegetation. Restoration also included mitigating channel maintenance activities that impacted vegetated islands.
The project aimed to restore riparian grass and sedge meadows currently dominated by Artemisia tridentata var. Tridentata. The project also served as research to study the effect on soil water and temperature, plant species establishment, and abiotic responses by water table depth, burning, and Artemisia. All Artemisia was killed as a result of the burn.
This project aimed to eradicate the non-native American bullfrog, northern crayfish, and other invasive aquatic species in Cienega Creek in order to support conservation and reintroduction of the federally threatened Chiricahua leopard frog (CLF). The team quantified the abundance and distribution of native and non-native species, removed the bullfrogs, and established a buffer-zone to prevent bullfrog dispersal from outside.
In northern Vermont, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD), Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are working to restore and create riparian buffers to improve habitat for native fish and wildlife, strengthen streambanks, and retain sediment and decrease nutrient loading from agricultural runoff.
The MWRD is working with the village of Robbins to help reduce flooding, restore Midlothian Creek, and create recreational and economic development opportunities to strengthen and revitalize the community. The Robbins Heritage Park and Midlothian Creek Restoration Project helps address overbank flooding through a new stormwater park and pond, along with improvements to Midlothian Creek and an overflow channel.
Researchers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley partnered with The Peregrine Fund and USFWS to evaluate grassland management strategies that address honey mesquite and huisache shrub encroachment in the Bahia Grande coastal prairie, with the goal of protecting the habitats for endangered falcon populations.
To protect native aquatic species, National Park Service (NPS) biologists have conducted bullfrog control in Yosemite Valley since the 1990s. Bullfrog removal continued regularly through 2015, with successful eradication achieved in 2019. Bullfrogs were removed using mechanical techniques such as backpack electrofishing, dip and seine nets, hook and line, and rifle shooting.
Introduced non-native aquatic species pose a significant ecological threat to the native fish assemblages in Bonita and Aravaipa Creeks. A fish barrier was constructed in 2008 to prevent the non-native Green Sunfish from moving upstream. After that, the creek was chemically treated with rotenone (piscicide). Neither strategy completely eliminated the non-native populations, so mechanical removal techniques were implemented.
Funded by Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Arizona Project (CAP), this project focused on removing non-native Green Sunfish and Black Bulkhead to protect the native Roundtail Chub in Red Tank Draw. Biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department mechanically removed non-native fishes using backpack electrofishing, mini-hoop nets, Swedish gill nets, and snorkeling with spears.
Since 2017, biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) have been working to remove non-native Green Sunfish from McGee Wash on Fort Rock Ranch and restore the native fish populations. A “blitz” approach was employed, using various netting mechanisms (hoop nets, seines, and minnow traps), angling, and backpack electroshocking.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service initiated the Duralde Cajun Prairie Restoration Project in Evangeline Parish in 1994 to restore the coastal tallgrass prairie from historical agricultural and land conversion degradation. They arranged purchased of 334 acres of Cajun Prairie and then conducted series of restoration activities, including clearing invasive tallow trees and transplanting native vegetation.