80 participants; $95, includes lunch

The US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) initiative will lead a course on EWN practices and use of natural and nature-based features (NNBF) that promote coastal resilience, flood risk reduction, and enhanced ecosystem services. NNBF are landscape features (e.g., beaches, dunes, marshes, reefs, wetlands, etc.) that are used to provide engineering functions relevant to flood risk management, while producing additional economic, environmental, and/or social benefits. The course will highlight information from the 2021 USACE publication, “International Guidelines on the Use of Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management,” representing the current state of the science and the conceptualizing, planning, designing, engineering, and implementing NNBF projects.

This short course will provide participants (1) an overview of EWN practices and example projects that promote coastal resilience, flood risk reduction and enhanced ecosystem services; (2) an introduction to a diverse number of EWN solutions, which include a systems approach incorporating the use of NNBF; (3) a greater understanding of specific NNBF used in creating EWN solutions, including advances in practice since the publication of the NNBF guidelines; and (4) insight into current efforts to quantify EWN “triple win” outcomes, which include the analysis of engineering, environmental, and socio-economic benefits. Fundamental to any EWN activity or project is the importance of continuous community and stakeholder engagement. As such, examples of these dynamic relationships will also be discussed. Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about EWN research activities being led by a diverse consortium of organizations to address current and anticipated issues challenging our estuarine systems.