After a 1995 extreme heat event that led to the deaths of several hundred residents, Chicago, Illinois conducted a heat vulnerability assessment. This assessment led to the creation of the Chicago Climate Change Action Plan, which first aimed to address extreme heat events. This led to mitigation efforts such as green roofs and cool pavements. 

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. 

Oregon DOT designed several nature-based solutions to protect the 363-mile-long Oregon Coast Highway (U.S. 101) from extreme events and coastal bluff erosion. Three demonstration sites were selected, where cobble beaches were restored to enhance natural wave protection along the backshore.

Reef balls and oyster shells were used to create 1.02 miles of oyster reef off the coast of Coffee Island, in Portersville Bay, Alabama. These reefs reduced erosion, enhanced biodiversity, created jobs and improved local fisheries. This also created 20 acres of seagrass and marsh habitat, further protecting the shoreline. 

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. 

Starting in 2013, the emerald ash borer (EAB) has been detected in Colorado, spreading throughout most of the North American ash (Fraxinus). The City of Fort Collins updated the tree inventory on public properties and aimed to treat 2,100 ash trees using pesticides (Emamectin benzoate) or mechanical removal, while replanting more resilient trees over a 3-year period.

The Commercial Township Salt Hay Farm, in the southern portion of the Delaware Bay, is being restored through the Estuary Enhancement Program. The diked marsh was degraded and subsided from sedimentation, soil compaction, and soil oxidation. This project uses thin-layer placement to increase marsh elevation and restore marsh function. 

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.

Supported by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, local government, and the North Cove community designed a “dynamic revetment” along the shoreline with rebuilt dunes and placement of cobble berms as part of the local efforts to find effective treatments for severe shoreline erosion, flooding, and sea level rise along Willapa Bay, Washington.

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.

While massive waves attract surfers and visitors to the North Shore of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i, they also cause coastal erosion and high sea level events that threaten coastal residents. Instead of building sea walls, the state took an ecological approach by restoring sand dunes in front of coastal properties.

The masked bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi), a former popular game bird, has been locally extinct in the U.S. Sonoran Desert since the 1990s due to livestock overgrazing and drought. Invasive grass species further degraded their habitat. Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge was established for the reintroduction of masked bobwhite quail and habitat restoration. 

The Alabama DOT considered a nature-based solution for a bridge replacement and highway realignment project across Mobile Bay, AL. The plan involved using a continuous rock revetment from the edge of the pavement down to the existing bay bottom, complemented by a nature-based solution consisting of stone breakwaters and planted marsh in front of the revetment.

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.