The Network for Engineering With Nature_® (N-EWN_®) invites you to the “N-EWN Knowledge Series: A Continuing Education Series about Engineering with Nature—Engineering With Nature_® Engineering Practice Guide for Floodplain Benching Projects,” presented by Eddie Brauer, PE, USACE St. Louis District and Joanna Curran, PhD, PE, USACE Seattle District. This one-hour Zoom webinar will take place Thursday, Sept. 17, at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Restoration and nature-based solutions are increasingly recognized as sustainable infrastructure, yet practitioners charged with delivering them often lack the design criteria and procedures that are routine for conventional “gray” infrastructure. Technical guidance for natural infrastructure (NI) remains limited in both content and organization, which slows adoption, complicates review, and inflates perceived risk.

USACE is addressing this through Engineering Practice Guides (EPGs), developed in alignment with the Engineering With Nature Guiding Principles and structured to follow the standard project design process. The Floodplain Benching EPG addresses reconnection in alluvial systems of any size, targeting flood attenuation, channel dynamics, sediment transport, margin hydraulics, and surface water-groundwater exchange, emphasizing self-forming and self-maintaining designs. Within the EPG, we describe site characterization, engineering design criteria, and design considerations. The focus is on moving from preliminary to detailed design, emphasizing hybrid approaches that combine gray with green and blue solutions.