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A U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff member uses an excavator to create drainage ditches in a salt marsh.

Assisted Marsh Migration

Assisted marsh migration is a strategy of marsh conservation that works with the inland movement of coastal marshes as a response to rising sea levels.

Schematic diagram showing two scenarios for coastal flood events affecting a row of houses. In the first scenario, Panel 1 shows a narrow beach separating a row of houses from mean sea level. Panel 2 shows flood waters rising above the narrow beach and impacting the houses. In the second scenario, Panel 3 shows a wide beach separating the houses from mean sea level. Panel 4 shows the wide beach continuing to separate the houses from the water during flood water levels.

Beach Nourishment

Beach nourishment is the addition of sediment, usually sand, directly on or adjacent to an
eroding beach.

o	A group of people surrounding a beaver dam analog structure, formed of a series of short upright logs with sticks and brushy vegetation in between.

Beaver Management and Beaver Dam Analogs

Beaver management refers to a strategy of increasing beaver populations through beaver reintroductions, enhancing beaver habitat, and promoting human–beaver coexistence.

A freshwater marsh area with a pond and wetland vegetation is surrounded by a park that includes a paved walking trail, pine stands, and grassy lawns.

Built Wetlands

Built wetlands, also known as constructed, artificial, or treatment wetlands, are water treatment systems built with wetland soils and vegetation to mimic the ecological and biophysical processes that improve water quality in natural wetlands.

Two fields with rows of cordgrass plantings, separated by a stone wall, on the shores of a river with a roadway crossing over it.

Coastal Marsh Restoration

Coastal marshes, also frequently called salt marshes, are partially flooded wetlands that are inundated by salt water brought in by the tides but can vary in salinity levels.

Close-up of an orange-brown Elkhorn Coral in a shallow reef environment.

Coral Reef Restoration

Coral reefs are the skeletons of marine invertebrates called coral, which form large underwater structures comprised of colonies.

A group of people is planting grasses on a coastal dune as part of a dune rehabilitation project.

Dune Restoration

Coastal dunes are large mounds of sand deposited on the landward side of a beach.

A narrow water channel surrounded by vegetation anchored in erosion netting.

Floodplain Reconnection

A floodplain is a low-lying area directly adjacent to a waterbody and partially or fully flooded during high-water events.

Forest trees and stream in Pisgah National Forest

Forest Conservation and Restoration

Forests provide food, fuel, oxygen, clean water, erosion control, and health benefits to people.

Wide-angle view of prairie grass horizon.

Grassland Conservation and Restoration

Grasslands, often called prairies in the United States, are habitats where the dominant vegetation type is grass.

Fire break overhead view

Green Firebreaks

Green firebreaks are strips of fire-resistant vegetation planted strategically to slow or stop the spread of wildfires, especially near infrastructure.

Close-up view of white verbenone pouch attached to bark on upper trunk of whitebark pine tree.

Invasive and Nuisance Pest and Pathogen Removal

An invasive or nuisance pest is synonymous with a species that causes harm to humans or the environment. This summary focuses specifically on invasive and nuisance insects and pathogens.

Multiple goats are jumping from the back of a truck after being released at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center.

Invasive and Nuisance Plant Species Removal

An invasive or nuisance pest is a species that causes harm to humans or the environment. This strategy focuses on invasive plant species.

A USDA APHIS researcher handling a Burmese python as part of a demonstration for a group of biologists.

Invasive and Nuisance Wildlife Removal

An invasive or nuisance pest is a species that causes harm to humans or the environment. This strategy focuses on invasive animal species.

An oyster reef in Downe Township, New Jersey that serves as the first phase of the Hurricane Sandy-funded living shoreline installation for the Gandy’s Beach shoreline protection project (completed in October 2015).

Living Shoreline Creation

Living shoreline creation refers to the process of planting vegetation along the shoreline and installing structures that help hold the vegetation in place.

Mangrove forest restoration by the Corps of Engineers’ South Atlantic Division, which oversees military and water-resources design, construction, and operation in the Southeast, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Mangrove Restoration

Mangrove ecosystems are a form of coastal wetlands found in tropical and subtropical regions. These systems support halophytic (salt-loving) trees, shrubs, and other plants, and are dominated by mangrove trees.

Van Campens Brook shortly after construction on the stream was completed. Erosion control matting is in place while native vegetation rehabilitates the area. Photo credit NPS/A. Grismer

Nontidal Wetland Restoration

Nontidal wetland restoration is the rehabilitation of a degraded wetland so that its hydrology, vegetation, and ecological processes approximate, to the extent possible, the original natural condition prior to modification.

An oyster reef at Gandy’s Beach which is a part of a shell-based living shoreline one mile offshore (projected to reduce incoming wave energy by up to 40 percent).

Oyster Bed Restoration

Oysters are a cornerstone of coastal ecosystems and fisheries, providing structural protection to the coast as well as improving water quality.

Nearby Chesapeake and Suffolk, Virginia, Fred Wurster, a hydrologist, manipulates a water control structure, 1 of 22 structures repaired or installed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with Hurricane Sandy resilience funding to reduce impacts of flood and fire.

Peatland Restoration

Peatlands are a type of inland wetland where waterlogged soils prevent plant material from fully decomposing. There are two types of peatlands: tropical peatlands, characterized by high precipitation and temperature, and northern peatlands, which are interspersed among boreal forests and coastal areas.

Prescribed grassland fire at Las Cienegas National Conservation Area oversaw by the Bureau of Land Management.

Prescribed Burns

Prescribed burns are fires that are intentionally set in a controlled manner in accordance with specified weather limitations, laws, policies, and regulations.

The installation of containerized sedges and rushes in the Mountain-Prairie Region (which includes eight states across three distinct landscapes) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help re-establish wetland and riparian habitat.

Riparian Buffer Restoration

Riparian buffers are vegetated areas adjacent to an inland waterbody that are managed to protect the waterbody from the impacts of surrounding land uses.

Workshop participants contribute to fish passage project in Anchorage, Alaska by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Riverine Connectivity Restoration

A riverine system is a watershed-scale network of integrated aquatic habitats and hydrological processes.

A group of people pack sagebrush plants grown into an outdoor nursery to prepare for planting at a restoration site.

Sagebrush Conservation and Restoration

Sagebrush habitats exist across the western United States in areas with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. They are dominated by big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) vegetation and perennial grasses.

A scorpionfish is hidden in a seagrass meadow.

Seagrass Restoration

Seagrasses are flowering plants that grow entirely underwater and form dense meadows in shallow areas. Seagrass restoration refers to any activities that help return seagrass ecosystems to as close as possible to their state before anthropogenic disturbances.

A restoration site at Raccoon Creek in Paulding County on the northwest edge of metro Atlanta, Georgia a few weeks following the latest restoration work by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Stream Restoration

A stream, also known as a branch, creek, run, or brook, is a continuous surface flow of freshwater within a channel that is smaller than a river. Headwater streams can originate from groundwater (springs), runoff, or a wetland.

Forest thinning in the Umpqua National Forest of Oregon as a part of a fuel reduction program to minimize the risk of wildfires.

Thinning

Forest thinning refers to removing trees in a forest stand to allow space for other trees and plants to grow.

Green roof on Howlett Hall at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Urban Greening

Urban greening is a general term used to describe efforts to renature urban areas by installing various types of green infrastructure.

Rain gardens at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Urban Stormwater and Runoff Management

Strategies for urban stormwater and runoff management such as rain gardens, stormwater parks, permeable pavement, and bioswales are intended to reduce these issues by promoting water retention, infiltration, and evapotranspiration instead of runoff.

A recently constructed underpass for wildlife along SR-76 in San Diego County, California by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wildlife Road Crossing Structures

Wildlife road crossing structures are infrastructure built with the joint goals of increasing habitat connectivity across roads and reducing wildlife–vehicle collisions.

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