Projects in North America

Nature and Health: How does lifestyle and environment affect health and wellness? Monroeville, PA

Life in urban areas poses several health and sustainability challenges that can be mitigated by access to and development of green and blue spaces in urban areas.

Strong Coasts: Reducing Climate Risks with Equitable, Nature-Based Solutions

NatCap is part of the five-year NSF CoPE (Coastlines & People) “Strong Coasts” project, led by the University of South Florida.

Urban Nature and Biodiversity for Cities

We partnered with the World Bank to write a policy brief for leaders interested in combining goals for biodiversity conservation and urban development to create more sustainable, livable cities.

Natural City Design for Well-Being, Twin Cities, MN, USA

Using evidence linking nature with mental health and wellbeing to inform urban planning, urban design and public health.

Marine Planning, British Columbia, Canada

Incorporating benefits provided by nature into a set of province-wide plans for the marine environment.

Park Use and Social Media, New York, NY, USA

Applying social media data to better measure visitation in city parks and green space.

Informing the siting of offshore renewable energy (Block Island, Rhode Island, USA)

We explored how siting the first-in-the-nation offshore wind energy farm might impact views from along the coastline.

Habitat and Water Policy, San Joaquin Valley, USA

Informing how changing agricultural land use driven by adaptation to water scarcity can also be an opportunity to improve habitat and environmental outcomes, while mitigating the impact to the agricultural economy.

Investments in Watershed Conservation, Veracruz, Mexico

Co-developing guidelines and implementing monitoring programs to understand how investments in watershed conservation and restoration are improving ecosystem services and livelihoods.

Integrated Watershed Action Planning, Mexico

Developed watershed management plans to conserve the ecosystems of coastal watersheds in the southern Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico in the face of climate change.

Land-Use Decision Making & Water Quality, Narragansett Bay, RI, USA

Conducting stakeholder engagement and modeling of land use decisions on surface and marine water quality.

Grey & Green Infrastructure, Freeport, Texas, USA

Modeled coastal protection, recreation, and fisheries benefits provided by coastal habitats to inform decisions about grey and green infrastructure in Dow Chemical's facility.

Watershed Conservation & Wildfires, Truckee, CA, USA

Integrating ecosystem services in a stakeholder-driven process to improve water quantity and quality in the Truckee River Watershed using RIOS.

Water District Master Planning, California, USA

Supporting the SC3 tri-county partnership with integrating ecosystem services into the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Master Plan for the Coyote Watershed.

Land Conservation & Watersheds, Indian Creek Watershed, IA, USA

Developing a return on investment analysis of multiple ecosystem services and public goods provided by best management practices of Conservation Reserve Program lands.

Mapping Tool for Human Well-Being, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Developed Mapping Ecosystem Services to Human well-being (MESH), a tool for calculating and mapping ecosystem services under different landscape management scenarios.

Modeling Pollinator Habitat Changes, Chicago, IL, USA

Evaluated InVEST's pollinator model in an urban area and used it to assess pollinator habitat under scenarios of change in turf grass management.

Military Base Spatial Planning

Developed tools and approaches to map and value ecosystem services in diverse ecosystems and military contexts of three Department of Defense installations.

Land Management & Schools, Hawaii, USA

NatCap used information about variation in ecosystem services and their diverse values to develop land management plans that best meet the diverse objectives of Kamehameha Schools, the largest private land-owner in Hawai'i.

Marine & Coastal Spatial Planning, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Developed all of the original Marine InVEST tools to use nature's benefits to inform coastal plans for Barkley and Clayoquot Sounds.

Social Media & Parks Visitation, Twin Cities, MN, USA

Developing and testing an approach for using social media data to measure visitation to Twin Cities parks and green space, to inform local and regional park planning processes.

Reducing Risk for Vulnerable Communities, USA

Assessed risk from coastal hazards and the role that ecosystems play in reducing risk for vulnerable communities along the entire coast of the US.

Watershed Management, Florida, USA

Worked to prioritize conservation and restoration activities in Escambia and Pensacola Counties to achieve multiple watershed and coastal objectives.

Oyster Reefs Restoration, Mobile Bay, AL, USA

Worked on the design and placement of restored Oyster Reefs in Mobile Bay.

Land & Sea Interlinkages, Hood Canal, WA, USA

Worked to understand how activities in coastal watersheds might impact the delivery of ecosystem services from marine systems.

Forest Restoration & Water Management, California, USA

Exploring whether forest restoration benefits have the potential to significantly impact water management objectives when considering the complex realities of water management infrastructure and institutions.

Food Forests: From Vacant Lands to Vibrant Lands (San Antonio, TX, USA)

Working with the Food Policy Council and the San Antonio Office of Innovation to explore the multiple benefits that could flow to people from further investment in vacant lands in the city.

Fishing, Infrastructure, and Hazard Mitigation, New England, USA

Working to map and quantify risks to habitat and ecosystem services from various activities in the Northwest Atlantic.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Restoration, Gulf of Mexico, USA

Worked to integrate ecosystem service models for coastal habitats related to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Coordinating Monarch Conservation Planning, USA

Conservation Easements, MN (statewide), USA

Developed a tool to help governments and nonprofits in Minnesota integrate an ecosystem services approach into the prioritization of conservation easement acquisitions.

Coastal Habitats & Communication, Gulf of Mexico, USA

Worked to understand and communicate (through coastalresilience.org) where coastal habitats provide protection from sea-level rise and storms in the Gulf of Mexico and along the US east coast.

Coastal Habitats & Adaptive Planning, California Coast, USA

Incorporating natural capital in climate adaptation planning in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Marin Counties. Developed California coastline viewer tool to explore coastal habitat, sea-level rise, and nature-based solutions.

Climate Adaptation & Resilience (San Francisco Bay, CA, USA)

Exploring how nature-based solutions might be added to sea-level rise adaptation strategies in the Bay Area.

Golf and Natural Capital, Twin Cities, MN, USA

What are the ecosystem service values of golf courses to their surrounding community? How do the biophysical drivers of ecosystem services affect the golf experience?