We work across four main branches
In order to help facilitate the widespread adoption of natural infrastructure practices across the United States, we’ve identified four main areas that need additional work:
Developing methods and standards
New tools, techniques and guidance are needed to effectively plan, design, construct and operate natural infrastructure at different scales
Assessing benefits and costs
Natural infrastructure provides communities with a broad array of economic, environmental and social benefits. Improved approaches are needed to evaluate, quantify and forecast these benefits to support planning and decision making
Monitoring performance and outcomes
Technically sound, efficient and applicable methods are needed to track natural infrastructure performance over time, develop the evidence base for future designs, ensure compliance with policy and inform project operations and adaptive management
Integrating people and policy
Providing infrastructure that supports human wellbeing and equitably meets the needs of diverse communities requires integration of human values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and policies with modern communication and collaboration practices
Combining a diversity of on-the-ground experience with interdisciplinary teams.
The NNI community is made up of over 30 partners from industry, academia and the non-profit sector.
What NNI’s been up to:
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San Antonio Project Turns Flood Control Channel into Thriving Urban Ecosystem
San Antonio Project Turns Flood Control Channel into Thriving Urban Ecosystem By Lee Marlowe, Sustainable Landscape Ecologist The Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation Project covers hundreds of acres of the San Antonio River and its riparian zone just south of downtown San Antonio. It has also led to an expansion of San Antonio’s famous…
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Don’t miss the latest EWN podcast: S6 E7 A Conversation With Passionate Dune Stewards
S6 E7 A Conversation With Passionate Dune Stewards About This Episode If you’ve ever walked along a beach, you’ve likely noticed the dunes, the mounds of sand that have been formed by the wind. But have you ever thought about what those dunes do and how important they are? Perhaps not; our guests certainly have.…
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N-EWN Member Dr. Amber Wutich named a 2023 MacArthur fellow
We are immensely proud to share that Dr. Amber Wutich, a N-EWN member from Arizona State University, has been named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow. Wutich specializes in water insecurity, and investigates its impacts on human well-being. Her work was recently covered by NPR, where they referred to her “groundbreaking research showing how social structures[…] are used…
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