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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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Coral reefs off the west coast of Maui are readily accessible and heavily used by visitors and locals alike. To restore declining reef habitats suffering from excessive algae growth, Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources implemented a herbivore protection plan that restricts extraction of herbivorous fish and invertebrates from the reefs.

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The Puyallup River in Washington state is channelized and disconnected from its floodplain due to levee construction and logging in the region. This has led to habitat degradation for important fish species and a higher risk of flooding and damage to important transportation infrastructure. This project will reconnect over 28 hectares of the floodplain. 

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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.

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The Bolsa Chica wetland restoration was the largest coastal wetland restorations ever undertaken in Southern California (Amigos, 2008). The project restored full and muted tidal wetlands function to almost 600 acres of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands that were degraded by agricultural and urban development.

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The Southern Flow Corridor project works to relieve more than 1,214 hectares of community from regular flooding and reconnect more than 65 hectares of Tillamook Bay’s salmon-bearing habitat to streams. This project converted retired dairy land into wetlands by removing a levee system. This restored 179 hectares of habitat and opened new tidal channels. 

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Spice Creek Wildlife Management Area, along the Upper Niagara River, was experiencing erosion and wetland loss. This project introduced a segmented stone breakwater and large engineered wood structure to reverse this loss and promote habitat restoration. These structures reduce erosion and mitigate wave energy, allowing for sediment deposition and wetland creation.  

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The Karuk Tribe of California and the Six Rivers and Klamath National Forests worked on developing a programmatic approach to watershed restoration in the Karuk Ancestral Territory, an area that was degraded by past mining, excessive logging, and road building activities.

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The Ten Mile River restoration project restores diadromous fish migration to the lower part of the Ten Mile River in East Providence, RI. This project’s main goal is to provide fish passage over the first three downstream dams on the river: Omega Pond Dam, Hunts Mill Dam and Turner Reservoir Dam.

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Tulalip Tribe and other tribes in the Snohomish basin are concerned by the decline in salmon population in the region. Salmon loss is considered an economic, cultural, and spiritual threat to the tribal members’ lifeblood and identities. Local groups worked with farmers to control agricultural runoff that was found to be the major cause of salmon mortality.

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In an effort to restore eleven species of sea-run fish while resuming energy production levels, state and federal agencies, businesses and non-profits bonded together to restore the Penobscot River watershed. Two dam removals and the construction of one fish by-pass, and one modernized fish ladder resulted in over 2,000 km of connected migratory fish passage.

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