The $1-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law Nov. 15 includes funding for “nature-based” infrastructure, a sign of the growing bipartisan support among lawmakers and federal officials for approaching flood control and other climate change-related projects by working with natural systems, rather than trying to control them, according to current and former officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

IIJA为气候弹性项目分配了470亿美元，而且不仅包括洪水和沿海项目，还包括与气候危机相关的极端风暴18luck官网，干旱和野火的基础设施。

托德桥梁

托德桥梁，国家铅，与自然工程（EWN），美国军队工程师表示，资金代表了范式转变。他说，特定术语“自然基础设施”在法律中使用了超过17次的17次，而是自然基础设施的概念。“如果你看起来曾经看过各种机构......数亿美元的法律是针对自然基础设施的。”

Moreover, in the fiscal 2021 federal budget, lawmakers created a line item and allocated $12.5 million for the first time specifically for EWN. Funding for the EWN program for fiscal 2022 could range from $12.5 million to $20 million, depending on the final numbers in the bill.

Working with nature, or “green infrastructure,” is nothing new. But there is growing recognition among state and local governments, as well as federal agencies—even those that traditionally have favored gray solutions—that designing natural processes and systems into larger gray projects can be not only cost-effective but offer other social and environmental benefits too, says Ed Link, a former chief scientific adviser for the Corps, and now a senior research engineer at the University of Maryland’s Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

例如，在迈阿密，最近被要求重新审视倡导混凝土海堤的沿海防洪研究。新利luck迈阿密戴德县以及该市要求将更多的基于自然的元素纳入设计。

EWN资金可能会在七个“证明场所”的项目中支持项目，这些项目正在展示基于自然的方法的有效性。18luck官网例如，Corps''Filladelphia区有几个正在进行的试点项目，包括海洋县的Barnegat进口项目，N.J.，该项目疏浚自然海滩营养周期18luck官网。

这些项目的目的是学习如何德西18luck官网gn projects to work better with natural systems, says Monica Chasten, project manager and director of the Philadelphia District’s operations division. “We over-engineer certain projects to try to overcome natural processes, where if we really understand the natural system better, then we can design something that works with it, as opposed to fighting against it,” she says.

自然保护（TNC）是EWN努力的频繁伴侣和科学顾问。

“Our vision is really to get to the point where nature is mainstreamed as a consideration when we’re thinking about investing in infrastructure,” says Sarah Murdoch, TNC’s director of U.S. climate resilience and water policy. Murdoch notes that acceptance and technical knowledge about nature-based approaches varies district to district. “There’s also a lot of hurdles related to Corps’ procedures … one of those being cost-benefit methodology and how to capture and quantify the suite of benefits from nature-based approaches,” she says.

University of Maryland’s Link adds that using green elements isn’t a complete solution for every problem, and “you can’t turn a battleship on a dime.” It takes time for change and educational efforts to happen within organizations, he says. But engineering is at the precipice of “a whole new frontier,” he adds.