{"id":22359,"date":"2026-02-09T13:07:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/?post_type=publications&#038;p=22359"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:07:36","slug":"financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This technical note explores the restoration of Lightning Point, an award-winning natural infrastructure project led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in coastal Alabama. The story of Lightning Point provides an exemplar case study of successful coordination of cross-sector partnerships and the use of ecosystem services valuation to attract project funding. Knowledge gaps surrounding natural infrastructure (NI) life cycle needs and performance thwart widespread implementation of NI in civil works projects. In particular, information about how to fund or finance the scoping, design, construction, monitoring, and adaptive management of NI projects constitutes a key need, as there is no standard process for securing funds. This technical note is part of a series documenting successful examples of funded NI projects and sharing lessons about a variety of funding and financing methods to increase the implementation of NI projects. The research effort is a collaboration between the Engineering With Nature\u00ae (EWN\u00ae) and Systems Approach to Geomorphic Engineering (SAGE) programs of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This technical note explores the restoration of Lightning Point, an award-winning natural infrastructure project led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in coastal Alabama. The story of Lightning Point provides an exemplar case study of successful coordination of cross-sector partnerships and the use of ecosystem services valuation to attract project funding. Knowledge gaps surrounding natural infrastructure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22360,"template":"","tags":[60],"class_list":["post-22359","publications","type-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This technical note explores the restoration of Lightning Point, an award-winning natural infrastructure project led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in coastal Alabama. The story of Lightning Point provides an exemplar case study of successful coordination of cross-sector partnerships and the use of ecosystem services valuation to attract project funding. Knowledge gaps surrounding natural infrastructure [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Engineering With Nature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"387\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/\",\"name\":\"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T19:07:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg\",\"width\":387,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Cover page for publication: ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publications\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/publications\\\/archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/\",\"name\":\"Engineering With Nature\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Engineering With Nature\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/alternate-header-log-from-elly.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/alternate-header-log-from-elly.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":156,\"caption\":\"Engineering With Nature\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature","og_description":"This technical note explores the restoration of Lightning Point, an award-winning natural infrastructure project led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in coastal Alabama. The story of Lightning Point provides an exemplar case study of successful coordination of cross-sector partnerships and the use of ecosystem services valuation to attract project funding. Knowledge gaps surrounding natural infrastructure [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/","og_site_name":"Engineering With Nature","og_image":[{"width":387,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/","url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/","name":"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama - Engineering With Nature","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-09T19:07:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4_cover.jpg","width":387,"height":500,"caption":"Cover page for publication: ERDC-TN-EWN-25-4"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/financing-natural-infrastructure-lightning-point-alabama\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Publications","item":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/publications\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Financing natural infrastructure : Lightning Point, Alabama"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/","name":"Engineering With Nature","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#organization","name":"Engineering With Nature","url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/alternate-header-log-from-elly.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/alternate-header-log-from-elly.jpg","width":1200,"height":156,"caption":"Engineering With Nature"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications\/22359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}