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Engineering With Nature

Engineering With Nature for the Department of Defense (DoD)

Engineering With Nature helps the DoD develop and integrate natural infrastructure solutions that promote resilience, reduce risks, and enhance the well-being of military personnel and civilians. By leveraging nature-based strategies, the program aims to create more adaptable and sustainable systems to support the DoD’s mission.

EWN for The DoD

Building Resilience

The U.S. Department of Defense and its 3 million team members operate on more than 25 million acres and nearly 5,000 sites in different regions, climates, and landscapes in the U.S. and around the world. Over the last 5 years, DoD installations have experienced more than $10 billion in damage from natural hazards, such as storms and flooding. Given the complexity of DoD’s mission, there are not many instances where simple, “silver bullet” infrastructure solutions are sufficient. Creating resilient systems requires innovative action. If you have questions or ideas about how EWN can be applied to DoD installations, please feel free to contact us.

Engineering With Nature is front and center in DoD’s Climate Adaptation Plan.
Mr. Richard Kidd, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment and Energy Resilience, Retired
EWN for The DoD

An Atlas, Supporting Mission Resilience and Infrastructure Value

We developed this book to spark thought and conversation about opportunities to engineer
with nature across the DoD. The example projects presented here, from across DoD, illustrate
the potential to leverage nature as infrastructure.

EWN for The DoD

Defending training lands, people, and budgets

Engineering With Nature supports increased resilience on military installations because natural infrastructure strategies are:

  • Scalable, which reduces cost and allows for adaptation over time as environmental conditions continue to evolve.
  • Self-healing following storm events or other environmental hazards avoiding costly maintenance and repair typically incurred through conventional infrastructure.
  • Enjoyable, enhancing personal well-being of the people who work, train, and live at DoD facilities through environmental and social benefits.
EWN for The DoD

Featured Publications

February 27, 2024
Luce Bassetti, Jason Bird, Christine Crespo, Rick Gorsira, Tom Leigh, Hollie Janson Schmidt, Cinamon Vann, Brett Wylie, Tia Yang, Kira Zender, Jennifer Loofbourrow (graphic designer)
The Department of Defense recognizes climate threats and their impacts on mission resilience and readiness. Hosted by Engineering With Nature (EWN®), a workshop in July 2023 explored threats at MacDill AFB, focusing on wind, erosion, flooding, sea-level rise, and wildfire. Agency experts presente...
September 22, 2023
Christopher Allen, Jason Bernagros, Jason Bird, Hollie Janson Schmidt, Enrique Lopezcalva, Armin Munevar, Terry Schaumberg, Susy Torriente, Cinamon Vann, Brett Wylie, Tianya Yang, Kira Zender, and Karen Rhea (graphic designer)
This report highlights the unique challenges and opportunities for utilizing NBS at Department of Defense (DoD) installations in the Desert Southwest. The proposed solutions highlighted in this report use NBS to harness the power of nature to support mission sustainment and resilience in the hars...
EWN for The DoD

Featured Videos

Play Video
With over 1,700 Department of Defense (DoD) installations worldwide, safeguarding critical infrastructure and personnel sustainably has become an imperative concern. The increased frequency and int...
EWN for The DoD

Related Workshops

26
September
2022
The Department of the Navy (DON) hosted a discussion on nature-based climate resilience. This meeting is part of a collaboration with the Army Corp......
1
March
2022
Military installations in the desert Southwest are grappling with the challenges posed by a range of natural hazards, such as drought, heat, winds,......
24
August
2021
24-25 August 2021. This two-day virtual event featured over 40 participants from across the Department of Defense, U.S. Government, industry, non-g......
EWN for The DoD

Featured Project

Not long after Hurricane Michael wreaked havoc across Northwest Florida in October 2018, devastating much of Tyndall Air Force Base along the way, ......