Ambitions to mainstream Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and achieve global implementation are hampered by the lack of transdisciplinary integration across disciplines and practice. Ecological knowledge, including an understanding of how biodiversity can support, and be supported by, NbS design and implementation remains an under-studied component of the NbS concept despite its critical importance. Starting with a brief primer on the major roles that biodiversity plays in NbS performance, we present eight recommendations for enhancing biodiversity in NbS planning and implementation. This narrative expert synthesis draws from an interdisciplinary literature search and decades of experience across landscape ecology, environmental engineering, urban planning, wildlife management, ecological restoration, and conservation science. Recommendations emphasize the importance of considering the ecological mechanisms that support biodiversity (i.e., viable populations of coexisting species) and understanding the role of organismal life history, species interactions, habitat preferences, and metapopulation dynamics in determining NbS features’ ecological resilience and contributions to biodiversity enhancement (i.e., IUCN Global Standard Criterion 3). We also emphasize the importance of assessing biodiversity across spatial scales and dimensions (e.g., functional, phylogenetic) and monitoring and ecological management for anticipating and adapting to unexpected outcomes, invasive species, and ecosystem dis-services. This review is intended to increase connections between ecological science, conservation biology, and NbS implementation to support more biodiverse projects with more robust, resilient, and multifunctional performance and greater contributions to global conservation.

Natural and engineered waterborne infrastructure are critical resources necessary for coastal protection, economic security, and ecosystem services; however, increasing pressures from natural hazard events are compromising the performance and resilience of these systems. Addressing these challenges requires innovative approaches that enhance infrastructure functionality while expanding social, economic, ecological, and recreational benefits. Additive manufacturing (AM), including 3D printing (3DP), presents a promising pathway to transform the design and implementation of nature-inspired infrastructure. These technologies enable the fabrication of complex, bioinspired structures using natural or sediment-based materials, aligning with Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) principles and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) infrastructure priorities. Despite this potential, key knowledge gaps remain that limit the transition from conceptual designs to scalable, field-ready applications. To address these gaps, an inaugural collaborative research workshop was convened at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). The workshop brought together interdisciplinary experts to evaluate current capabilities and define pathways for advancing nature-inspired 3DP solutions. Discussions were organized across four thematic areas: ecosystem restoration and bio-inspired design, coastal resilience, material and sediment properties, and scaling from benchtop to field implementation. Outcomes from the workshop highlight critical research needs, including material standardization, performance validation, and integration with existing engineering practices. This emerging capability also enables the embedding of habitat features, integration of sensors for monitoring infrastructure performance and environmental or security threats, and incorporation of carbon sequestration strategies directly into engineered systems. In addition, AM/3DP supports the retrofitting of existing gray infrastructure, advancing "greening the gray" approaches that enhance resilience and flood protection for both communities and critical assets. Collectively, these findings identify actionable pathways to develop feasible, scalable solutions that deliver multibenefit outcomes. This work supports a broader paradigm shift toward integrating nature-based approaches with advanced manufacturing technologies in coastal infrastructure.

Communities in the Great Lakes are experiencing increased frequency in coastal flooding and erosion, causing property damage, putting lives at risk, and disrupting local economies. To address these challenges, two workshops were conducted (18 February 2025 [virtual] and 26–27 February 2025 [in person]) to collect knowledge, insights, and feedback from community members, policymakers, and Tribal Nations representatives to inform the development of the Engineering With Nature® Great Lakes Playbook. This report documents the workshop outcomes. The playbook is being designed to advance coastal resilience efforts in the region by identifying natural and nature-based features and multiple lines of resilience strategies that address unique natural hazard-related challenges of the Great Lakes. During the workshops, sustainable, resilient, adaptable, and cost-effective solutions were explored and construction and implementation feasibility were discussed along with regulatory and community challenges that are applicable to coastal risks and opportunities around the Great Lakes. By providing location-appropriate examples and clear guidance on how these nature-based and engineered solutions can be implemented, the playbook will enhance understanding of their potential performance in the region and build confidence among federal, state, and local agencies and Tribal Nations in planning, designing, and implementing these sustainable, adaptable, and cost-effective solutions.

Abstract River floodplains are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Efforts at hydromorphological restoration by enhancing lateral connectivity between the river channel and former floodplain are increasingly popular as nature‐based solutions (NbS) for hydrometeorological risk, including flood management and drought resilience, while potentially improving habitat for fish and wildlife and performing other ecosystem services. However, the biodiversity conservation benefits of such interventions have not been comprehensively assessed. A comprehensive review of hydromorphological floodplain restorations and their conservation evidence is needed to guide managers in selecting interventions and understanding potential outcomes. Here we report findings from a systematic review of 100 studies monitoring ecological responses to hydromorphological floodplain restoration across 22 countries from four continents and a broad range of taxonomic groups including birds, fishes, invertebrates, plants and amphibians. Most research comes from temperate climates, especially in Europe, and assesses restoration success at local scales by comparing restored to reference sites, with less than 20% of studies using a full Before‐After‐Control‐Impact (BACI) Design. The most common interventions used were side‐channel excavation, lowering of the floodplain, levee setbacks and environmental flows, and these yielded generally positive effects on metrics of biodiversity. Studies showed variation in biodiversity response among river systems, intervention types, spatiotemporal scales and among taxonomic groups. Studies were biased towards invertebrates, plants and fish, with little research on terrestrial vertebrates (birds, amphibians, and small mammals, including bats) and soil microorganisms. Synthesis and applications . Our evidence synthesis reinforces the notion that hydromorphological floodplain restorations, as a biodiversity conservation measure or NbS, can significantly enhance local floodplain biodiversity. However, such benefits were often compromised at least in part by invasive species post‐restoration, highlighting the importance of sustained management.

Natural infrastructure—crucial for coastal resilience, flood risk management, and ecosystem services—confronts escalating challenges from rising seas, erosion, storms, and human impacts. Innovative approaches are needed to enhance infrastructure functionality and broaden social, economic, and environmental benefits. Traditional manufacturing constrains engineering creativity required for nature-inspired infrastructure (NII). Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing (3DP), could revolutionize the design and functionality of NII. However, existing capability gaps hinder the effective transition of these technologies from conceptualization to implementation. Our workshop explored 3D-printed NII structures using natural materials, aligning with Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) principles and US Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure goals. Discussion included engineering solutions to provide social, recreational, environmental, and economic benefits, including flood risk reduction, wave energy dissipation, nutrient sequestration, and habitat enhancement. The participants sought to understand material selection and optimize morphologies to ensure the successful biocompatibility of nature-based habitats. By using locally sourced, biocompatible materials and drawing inspiration from nature, these technologies offer a means to enhance habitat function and improve aesthetics for communities. A timely opportunity exists to reshape the perception of locally available materials, such as sediment, by presenting dredged material as an environmentally and economically beneficial use asset and resource for 3DP feedstocks.

With the simultaneous rise in coastal flooding risks projected by current climate models and the escalating demands placed on urban infrastructure by population expansion, there is an urgent need for resilient solutions to address these challenges. In response, the adoption of nature-based solutions (NbS) and natural and nature-based features (NNBF) has gained traction as promising, cost-efficient approaches to bolster coastal resilience while offering additional economic, social, and environmental benefits as compared with traditional “gray” infrastructure. While progress has been made in developing and documenting NbS and NNBF approaches for flood risk management globally, uncertainties persist regarding their practical application and effectiveness in highly urbanized coastal environments. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the current understanding of NNBF for coastal resilience, providing insights into their potential applications and opportunities in urban coastal settings. To meet this objective, an NNBF principled approach was applied using the City of Boston coastal storm risk management study as an illustrative example. The initial phases of the NNBF guidelines framework was an effective means of organizing and communicating information relevant to the identification and down selection of NNBF alternatives for the region. This study provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of incorporating innovative NbS and NNBF approaches for flooding risks in coastal urban regions.

The Great Lakes includes 140 federally maintained harbors with an annual dredging program of 2–4 million cubic meters (3–5 million cubic yards)1 of sediment. Many small harbors are not dredged regularly, and there is an undredged backlog of over 9 million cubic meters (12 million cubic yards) of sediment (USACE-LRD 2021). Current policy (Spellmon 2023) is to maximize the beneficial use (BU) of sediment, with a goal of beneficially reusing 70% of the federal navigation dredging volume by 2030 (that is, the 70/30 goal). In the Great Lakes, clean sands have often been placed on beaches or in the nearshore littoral zone to beneficially nourish the shoreline, but since many harbors are not dredged regularly, no plans exist to beneficially reuse dredged sediments. This lack of existing BU plans is particularly true for harbors with finer grained or mixed sediment. To achieve the 70/30 BU goal and support navigation maintenance and coastal management requires a strategic and systematic approach to identifying BU sites. The purpose of the technical note is to (1) provide an approach to identify potential nearshore placement sites using existing information and models; (2) describe available tools for placement site identification, coastal condition information, and the long-term fate of the sediment; and (3) provide a pertinent case study to describe this approach in practice.

Extreme weather variation, natural disasters, and anthropogenic actions negatively impact coastal communities through flooding and erosion. To safeguard coastal settlements, shorelines are frequently reinforced with seawalls and bulkheads. Hardened shorelines, however, result in biodiversity loss and environmental deterioration. The creation of sustainable solutions that engineer with nature is required to lessen natural and anthropogenic pressures. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are a means to enhance biodiversity and improve the environment while meeting engineering goals. To address this urgent need, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering With Nature® (EWN) program balances economic, environmental, and social benefits through collaboration. This report presents how design and engineering practice can be enhanced through organized decision-making and landscape architectural renderings that integrate engineering, science, and NbS to increase biodiversity in coastal marine habitats. When developing new infrastructure or updating or repairing existing infrastructure, such integration can be greatly beneficial. Further, drawings and renderings exhibiting EWN concepts can assist in decision-making by aiding in the communication of NbS designs. Our practical experiences with the application of EWN have shown that involving landscape architects can play a critical role in effective collaboration and result in solutions that safeguard coastal communities while maintaining or enhancing biodiversity.

In 2008, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (Pianc) published a position paper describing a Working with Nature (WwN) philosophy that aimed to change how the sector approaches navigation and port infrastructure projects. In 2018, Pianc published guidance on implementing WwN, an integrated approach that aligns new or existing infrastructure with natural processes. Pianc’s guidance presents a six-step process to implement WwN that encourages consideration of site-specific ecosystem characteristics and WwN opportunities at early stages of project development, early stakeholder engagement and integration of WwN into the development of project objectives before design begins. By incorporating WwN applications during conception, design and early stages of development, the WwN approach provides the most promising opportunities to affect positive outcomes for the environment. This holistic understanding of ecosystem processes and socioeconomic interactions realises that environmental impacts can be minimised while concomitantly seeking opportunities to enhance ecosystem functions at various spatial and temporal scales. Project delivery thus goes beyond merely avoiding or compensating for negative project impacts and seeks multi-sector ecosystem and socioeconomic benefits. Applied in practice, and consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goals, WwN can increase habitat functionality, reduce energy associated with construction or maintenance, and enhance the short- and long-term delivery of ecosystem services. Projects consistent with the WwN philosophy therefore achieve their underlying engineering objectives, alongside various co-benefits, consistent with the environmental, societal and economic sustainability pillars.

Inland waterway dredged sediment management is challenged by a lack of capacity in existing dredged material confined disposal facilities (CDFs) and a lack of available land to place sediment near frequently dredged navigation channels. Navigation operation and maintenance (O&M) dredging, material management, and coordination costs are increasing, and alternative long-term solutions are required. In response, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), St. Paul District has addressed the challenge by investigating regional sediment management and beneficial use of dredged material when updating navigation pool–specific dredged material management plans (DMMP). The recently completed Pool 5 DMMP planning identified a 950 acre (384 ha)* placement site consisting of several land parcels available from willing sellers that will accommodate a “100-year plan” for dredged material management (USACE 2019). This technical note describes the multiple-use site plan that creates sand prairie and wetland habitat, provides public access to sand stockpiles, and implements agriculture studies with the University of Minnesota to evaluate the benefits of dredged material (i.e., sand) amendments in alluvial cropland soils, which has not been widely investigated. The Rolling Prairie site will demonstrate benefits of “distributed DMMPs” in which thin-layer placement on agricultural land near dredging locations can supplement traditional disposal methods. It also shows the advantage of having a large placement site to achieve multiple objectives.

Dredged-sediment management in the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway is constrained by environmental factors and regulations that limit where sediment can be placed. Regulations regarding in-water sediment placement are not consistent among states. In-water placement should be promoted because it keeps sediment in the system and reduces costs for managing sediment dredged from the river. Studies investigating the environmental effects of in-water placement generally conclude that sand-on-sand placement has minimal effect on aquatic resources in the dynamic riverine environment. This report discusses in-water sediment management techniques, including flow- and sediment-regulating structures (i.e., dikes and wing dams) and a bed-load sediment collector by-pass system.

The purpose of this Technical Note is to describe Conway Lake ecosystem restoration adaptive management investigations to evaluate forest planting and soil response to three depths of fine sediment placed over a sand base.

Coastal bird populations in North America have experienced significant population declines over the past four decades, and many species have become dependent upon human-made islands and other sediment-based habitats created through dredged material deposition. We monitored the breeding phenology of coastal bird populations utilizing dredged-material islands and open depositional areas in the Baptiste Collette Bayou in coastal Louisiana. Monitoring began in early May, prior to when most coastal species begin nesting, and continued through late August, when most breeding activity has ceased. Semimonthly surveys included area searches by foot and boat. Two deposition areas and one island supported large numbers of foraging, roosting, or breeding birds; surveys on these areas included using spotting scopes to identify species and count nests or young. Six islands and two open deposition areas were monitored. We also collected high-definition and lidar imagery using an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) in June, during peak nesting season. We recorded 77,474 cumulative detections of 68 species. Virtually all colonial nesting birds (terns and skimmers) nested on Gunn Island in 2021. We discuss these results in the context of dredged-material deposition by the US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, and offer recommendations for management of these areas.

Nature-based solutions (NbS, and related concepts like natural infrastructure, Ecosystem-based Adaptation, and green infrastructure) are increasingly recognized as multi-benefit strategies for addressing the critical sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene, including the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. Mainstreaming NbS in professional practice requires strategic, landscape-level planning integrating multiple sources of benefits and their synergies and trade-offs. Levee setbacks (LS) are among the best-studied riverine NbS with recognized benefits for flood risk management, drought resilience, water quality management, recreational opportunities, and ecological restoration for biodiversity. Although awareness of the multifarious benefits of LS as forms of Natural Capital is growing, implementation remains ad-hoc and opportunistic. To address this critical implementation gap for one major example of NbS, we review and synthesize literature across diverse disciplines to provide an overview of the primary social, economic, and ecological mechanisms that affect the co-benefit delivery of LS projects. Next, to make this information relevant to NbS practitioners, we link these mechanisms to spatial metrics that can be used to approximate the relative magnitude of project benefits and costs across these mechanisms. Finally, we highlight examples of key synergies and trade-offs among benefits that should be considered for LS planning. This synthetic approach is intended to familiarize readers with the diverse potential benefits of LS, and provide an understanding of how to select and prioritize potential sites for further study and implementation. Synergies and trade-offs among important benefit drivers abound, and social equity concerns will be paramount in ensuring the successful implementation of LS and other NbS in the future. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water Engineering Water > Planning Water Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems

The Great Lakes Navigation System is an economically critical waterway. To maintain safe and navigable waterways, approximately 3–5 million yd³ (2.3–3.8 million m³) of sediments are dredged annually. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and others now recognize that beneficial use of these sediments can achieve positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes. However, historically less than 25% of dredged sediments have been beneficially used in the nearshore environment. Improvements are needed in dredged material management practices in the Great Lakes to achieve the goal of using 70% of dredged sediments beneficially by 2030. Therefore, to overcome these challenges this report reviews beneficial use of dredged material projects with the goal of improving and in-creasing beneficial-use-placement practices in the Great Lakes. Identified needs to advance beneficial-use placement in the Great Lakes include the following: (1) improved modeling of sediment-placement methods; (2) better documentation regarding the cost, benefits, and drawbacks of various placement methods; (3) demonstration of some sediment-placement techniques used successfully in other coastal environments; and (4) monitoring before and after conditions, particularly for sediments that contain greater than 10% fines. Several demonstration projects should be implemented to obtain information addressing the data gaps.

As part of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ mission to evaluate and move dredged material (DM) to maintain navigation channels, environmental evaluation of the prospective material is required by the Code of Federal Regulations. While existing guidance manuals provide useful guidance to DM regulators, they are over 30 years old and not reflective of the latest science. However, efforts to update procedures and publish the documents individually or as a combined dredging manual have been thus far unsuccessful. These issues, coupled with a lack of consistent reporting and decision documentation, lead to delays arising from challenges addressing project-specific issues not clearly covered within the existing guidance, revisiting previously resolved issues or negotiating disputes between permitting authorities. This technical report provides a path toward modernization of the environmental compliance aspects of DM evaluation guidance in part through software executables guiding the management and decision process and through a structured, evidence-based approach. The value added is an updated approach to DM testing and evaluation decisions.

Civil infrastructure will be essential to face the interlinked existential threats of climate change and rising resource demands while ensuring a livable Anthropocene for all. However, conventional infrastructure planning largely neglects the contributions and maintenance of Earth’s ecological life support systems, which provide irreplaceable services supporting human well-being. The stability and performance of these services depend on biodiversity, but conventional infrastructure practices, narrowly focused on controlling natural capital, have inadvertently degraded biodiversity while perpetuating social inequities. Here, we envision a new infrastructure paradigm wherein biodiversity and ecosystem services are a central objective of civil engineering. In particular, we reimagine infrastructure practice such that 1) ecosystem integrity and species conservation are explicit objectives from the outset of project planning; 2) infrastructure practices integrate biodiversity into diverse project portfolios along a spectrum from conventional to nature-based solutions and natural habitats; 3) ecosystem functions reinforce and enhance the performance and lifespan of infrastructure assets; and 4) civil engineering promotes environmental justice by counteracting legacies of social inequity in infrastructure development and nature conservation. This vision calls for a fundamental rethinking of the standards, practices, and mission of infrastructure development agencies and a broadening of scope for conservation science. We critically examine the legal and professional precedents for this paradigm shift, as well as the moral and economic imperatives for manifesting equitable infrastructure planning that mainstreams biodiversity and nature’s benefits to people. Finally, we set an applied research agenda for supporting this vision and highlight financial, professional, and policy pathways for achieving it.

In major harbors and ports in the United States and its territories, the US Army Corps of Engineers maintains federal navigation channels in proximity to coral reefs (e.g., Honolulu Harbor, HI; Miami Harbor, FL; Apra Harbor, Guam) and other sensitive habitats. To effectively predict potential adverse impacts from dredging activities near these sensitive habitats, a holistic approach to improve understanding of the pressures on these habitats is needed to foster a more complete prediction of risk drivers. To achieve this, risk-based frameworks that account for the full range of natural and anthropogenic impacts need to be adapted and applied specifically for assessing and managing indirect dredging impacts on sensitive environments. In this article, we address this need by incorporating a drivers-pressures-stressors-condition-response (DPSCR4 ) conceptual framework to broaden a comprehensive conceptual model of the coupled human-ecological system. To help understand these complex interactions, DPSCR4 was applied to evaluate dredging and other unrelated environmental pressures (e.g., terrestrial runoff) in a proof-of-concept dredging project in Honolulu Harbor, Hawai'i, USA, with a focus on the indirect effects of dredge plumes. Particle tracking models and risk-based tools were used to evaluate sediment resuspended during a hypothetical mechanical dredging activity near sensitive coral habitats. Stoplight indicators were developed to predict indirect sediment plume impacts on coral and then compared to exposure modeling results. The strengths and limitations of the approach are presented and the incorporation of the risk framework into environmental management decisions is discussed. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:547-561. Published 2023. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Sedimentation can occur near a dredge operation in pulses over days, and potentially impact coral reefs occurring in close proximity. To improve the ability to predict the effects of dredging on corals, the effects of sedimentation in two 18-day experiments were studied for three common coral species representing different morphologies. In a laboratory setting, coral fragments were exposed to four sedimentation concentrations dosed every four days ranging from 0 to 60 mg cm-2. Separate experiments were performed in series, once with fine grain sediment and repeated with a coarse grain sediment. A 30-day sediment free observation period followed each experiment. Coral responses were measured throughout the experiment and at the end of the 18-day exposure and 30-day sediment free observation period. Photosynthetic yield, lipid ratios, tissue color, tissue loss, growth, and sediment cover varied among the treatment groups. All coral species were minimally affected when sediment concentrations were at or below 6 mg cm-2. P. meandrina and P. lobata experienced the most sediment coverage and tissue loss when exposed to sediment concentrations >30 mg cm-2 for either sediment. M. capitata experienced no sediment coverage or tissue loss when exposed to either sediment, but a reduction in photosynthetic yield at 60 mg cm-2 fine grain sediment was observed. During the 30-day post-exposure sediment free observation period, P. meandrina tissue loss continued, P. lobata nearly completely regrew lost tissue, while M. capitata showed no lingering effects. This study improves the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ability to estimate the impacts of dredging on coral reefs.