A manufacturing company purchased 100 acres of abandoned golf course on floodplain of Fort Collins to develop its new headquarter. To reduce the frequency and severity of flooding, the company reconnected the Cache la Poudre River with its floodplain, removing fill from 31 acres to build up pads for properties.

The West Fork San Luis Rey River on Palomar Mountain, in Southern California hosts a population of native Coastal Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) that were threatened by the invasive Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas). After two years of work, biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife achieved complete bullhead eradication within this stream.  

The San Clemente Dam on the Carmel River was no longer useful due to sedimentation of the reservoir, and was declared a public safety hazard in the 1990s. This project removed the dam and restored the Carmel River’s floodplain and habitat. This improved habitat and connectivity for wildlife, including the threatened steelhead.  

Due to extreme flooding events and excessive nitrogen levels in the Cedar River Watershed, the City of Cedar Rapids led the Middle Cedar Partnership Project to reduce nutrient runoff and improve soil health. The partnership collaborated with local farmers, landowners, and conservation organizations to implement strategies to reduce nutrient runoff, mitigate flood risk, and improve soil health.

Plum creek is a primary tributary to the Chatfield Reservoir, a major source of water for Denver, Colorado. Urban development and increased stormwater runoff disrupted the creek’s sediment dynamic, causing streambed degradation and loss of wetlands. This project restored Plum Creek and its riparian habitat to increase water supply and protect native species. 

A collaborative effort from USFWS, USDA, and Maryland DNR has worked over 20 years to eliminate the exotic, invasive nutria, which, combined with sea level rise and land subsidence, have caused over 5,000 acres loss of wetlands. Working closely with public and private landowners, the project managed to remove 14,000 nutria and protect over 250,000 acres of marshes.

USGS Western Geographic Science Center led the project to examined the effects of gabions (wire baskets filled with rocks used as dams) on vegetation in the Ciénega San Bernardino, in the Arizona, Sonora portion of the US-Mexico border, using a remote-sensing analysis coupled with field data.

The Clackamas River is a tributary to the Columbia River that has been degraded by beaver removal, logging, mining, overgrazing, and urban development. This disconnected the floodplain from its river and negatively impacted fish populations. This project restored habitat to help threatened and endangered salmonids. 

Cleveland Metroparks worked closely with 12 community-based organizations and 40 stakeholder groups in restoring Lake Erie’s eastern shorefront. The team managed to conduct virtual and in-person outreach activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and develop a plan for 150 acres of park and habitat amenities, including 80 acres of newly acquired park land.

Restoring Lake St. Clair, between Michigan and Canada, has been an international priority for decades. The Clinton River Mouth Wetland, at the edge of Lake St. Clair is the site of a restoration project headed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This project will remove invasive species and use dredged materials to create wetland habitat. 

The Montezuma quail’s (Cyrtonyx montezumae) primary habitat is Madrean oak woodlands. These habitats are degrading from the impacts of climate change and habitat destruction. This project aims to restore Madrean oak woodlands and Montezuma quail populations through a partnership of Sonoran Joint Venture, Borderlands Restoration Network, and Southern Arizona Quail Forever.  

The Dolores River Restoration Partnership, Escalante River Watershed Partnership, Gila Watershed Partnership, Verde Watershed Restoration Coalition, and Virgin River Coalition formed a partnership to restore riparian lands across the Colorado River basin. These organizations work to control invasive species, improve terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and reduce erosion. 

Tomorrow’s Water led by Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) is an organization working to ensure water availability under immediate and future drought conditions in the Ogallala Aquifer region. PLJV restores playas to enhance water availability and quality, helps communities increase irrigation efficiency, and empowers communities to establish water management plans. 

In the mid-1990s, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, was set to begin development on the Warren Golf Course. The University initially designed the course to have Juday Creek, a historic waterway with declining ecological health, run through it. To protect the creek, community groups worked with Notre Dame researchers to restore it.

An astonishing 50% of the original Everglades have been destroyed due to changes in the hydrologic regime and urbanization in Florida. In 2000, Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) that provides funding for alterations to existing structures and addition of new structures (reservoirs, channels, etc.) to re-create the effect of the original water flow.

The Salton Sea, as the largest lake in California, is an important habitat for migratory birds on the Pacific flyway. The habitat is threatened by decreased water levels and increased salinity and selenium levels. This project created an experimental complex to try and create shallow saline habitat ponds as suitable habitat for wildlife. 

The Coonamessett River in Cape Cod has seen declines in fish populations and degradation to aquatic habitat from a history of mill construction and cranberry cultivation. The Town of Falmouth removed one of the dams on the river, restored a bog to wetland conditions, replaced two undersized culverts, and rerouted flows around another dam. 

With a growing push to remove low-head dams due to safety concerns and the potential for ecosystem improvement, Corydon, Indiana was approached by The Nature Conservancy to remove two dams owned by the Town. The dams blocked potential habitat for the endangered hellbender salamander.

The Mohave tui chub (Siphateles bicolor mohavensis = Gila bicolor mohavensis) is a federally endangered species that was native to the Mojave River, however now only exists in natural and man-made refuges. This project aims to establish and maintain refuges for the fish to promote recovery. 

Coastal Louisiana contains around 40% of the wetlands in the continental United States and accounts for approximately 80% of the nation’s wetland loss due to sea-level rise, storm surges, and subsidence. This project restored 1,600 hectares of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) forest at Pointe-aux-Chenes Wildlife Management Area.