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

Nature-Based Solutions Tools Search

This database contains over 400 tools and resources that can help guide practitioners at various stages of the nature-based solutions project cycle. Use the filters to identify the tools and resources most useful to you.

You can filter the full list by the habitat type you’re working in, the nature-based solutions strategy you want to use, the project phase you are looking for help with, or the type of tool/resource you’re looking for.

The tools and resources shown here were gathered through a robust search of both federal and non-federal sources. We recognize that this library will never be completely comprehensive, but if you know of an important missing tool or resource, please email nesp@duke.edu.

Other searches:

Find nature-based solutions strategies (project types)

Find case studies

Developed for stormwater and floodplain managers, as well as land use planners, this interactive website incorporates tools and methods to derive critical coastal water-level thresholds, as well as assess the potential impacts of exceeding those thresholds on stormwater infrastructure. Managers can take various actions to address the issue, and this guide introduces planning, policy, on-the-ground, and funding options.

Relevant phase:

This tool lets users project the carbon reduction potential of different actions from the COMET - Planner tool (WRG048) ad extrapolate up to the national level.

Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) is a tool that assists water sector utilities in assessing climate-related risks to utility assets and operations. Throughout CREAT’s five modules, users consider climate impacts and identify adaptation options to increase resilience. Modules include: climate awareness, scenario development, consequences and assets, daptation planning, and risk assessment. 

Identifies geographic areas within which seeds and native plants can be transferred based on current and future climate data.

Relevant phase:

This storymap provides a brief introduction to the development and potential uses of USGS' CoSMos tool, which makes detailed predictions of storm-induced coastal flooding, erosion, and cliff failures over large geographic scales.

Relevant phase:

This tool can be used to estimate the greenhouse gas reduction and carbon sequestration potential of a landowners farm or ranch. It could be a useful tool for quantifying the value of specific NBS strategies.

This tool can be used to estimate the greenhouse gas reduction and carbon sequestration potential of different conservation practices based off county-level geographic data. It could be useful for quantifying the value of specifc NBS strategies.

EnviroAtlas data and resources can be used to inform a range of projects, from regional to local scales. This easy to use, interactive mapping application does not require any GIS skills to use and provides ready access to 536 map layers likegreen space per capita, mammal species richness or percent developed area and multiple analysis tools. EPA uses this tool for uses like project implementation (e.g. permitting) and designing targeted outreach strategies, but the site includes a repository of diverse ways this tool can be used in advancing all types of environmental work. 

Tool to assess the probability of erosion after a prescribed burn in sagebrush ecosystems, based on climate, soil, vegetation, slope, and fire characteristics.

Relevant phase:

FACT (Financing Alternatives Comparison Tool) is an easy-to-use financial analysis tool that
compares the costs associated with various financing options for water infrastructure and
water quality projects. There are two versions of the tool - FACT standard, which provides comprehensive analyses, and FACT Lite, which offers simplified analyses for high-level cost comparisons.

Relevant phase:

FVS is a tool commonly used in forestry by land managers. FVS can provide useful insight into how to thin for various goals, especially the Fire and Fuels Extension.

NBS Strategies:

*Includes: Stormwater Management Model (SWMM), National Stormwater Counter (SMC), Green Infrastructure Wizard (GiWizard), Watershed Management Optimization Tool (WMOST), Visualizing Ecosystems for Land Management Asessment (VELMA) Model, Green Infrastructure Flexible Model (GIFMod), Community-enabled Lifecycle Analysis of Stormwater Infastructure Costs (CLASIC) Tool, and the Integrated Decision Support Tool (i-DST)

Software that provides tree benefit estimation science through various tools and support.

NBS Strategies:

Part of NOAA’s Digital Coast toolbox, SLAMM helps predict where marshes will migrate to under threat from rising seas. The model contains helpful inputs including dike locations, accretion rates, and erosion rates. An explainer document is available.

Relevant phase:
NBS Strategies:

This screening tool helps users evaluate the potential of pesticides to move with water and/or eroded soil/organic matter. It can be useful for evaluating the potential benefits of water quality-focused NBS interventions.

Relevant phase: