Blog & News

April 25, 2024

Nature-Based Solutions at Great Ecology

Nature-based solutions focus on using natural features and processes to solve environmental issues while enhancing traditional engineered solutions to be more resilient, biodiverse, and aesthetically pleasing. Given our role as ecological designers and consultants, it should come as no surprise that nature-based solutions are at the heart of our innovative problem solving. 

Over the last week we have featured multiple nature-based projects like living shorelines and stormwater parks that our integrated team of landscape architects and ecologists have brought to life. These built projects offer significant ecological and community benefits as habitat and natural resources but are often components of larger efforts like waterfront and urban park restorations and erosion control and shoreline armoring. There are projects though where nature-based solutions are the primary focus of a project aimed at solving one or more site-specific issues. These may include engineered projects like green roofs and treatment wetlands, along with more traditional landscape projects that use unique plant palettes to naturally “clean” contaminated sites, a.k.a. phytoremediation.

Great Ecology’s Constructed Treatment Wetland project at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, in collaboration with Fuscoe Engineering, tackled the challenge of treating stormwater runoff with a nature-based solution that utilized existing available space within the site’s world-famous horse track while maintaining necessary aesthetic value.