← Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap Home

Let us know what you think of the Roadmap website. Provide your feedback →

Nature-Based Solutions Strategy Search

Other searches:

Find case studies →

Find tools and resources →

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

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

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 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 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.

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.

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

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

Wide-angle view of prairie grass horizon.

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

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 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 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.

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).

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.