High tunnels under construction! High tunnels are important for controlled-condition agriculture. In American Samoa, the team is building two high tunnels & demonstrating methods, working with NRCS to create standardized methods adapted to the local environment & materials.

Food security is local! The team worked on constructing this chicken coop, a model for family-scale food security. Coops can be built affordably with local materials, and can even be designed to move as needed!

Fruit bats in American Samoa! Fruit bats are important pollinators. These flying mammals care for their young for months after birth and have large wingspans, up to several feet across.

These mangrove flowers and seed pods were found near the chicken coop! Mangroves are an important species, providing habitat for many other species, as well as sequestering high amounts of blue carbon.

This is one of the first 3 IDLS to be built in American Samoa with NRCS funding. IDLS are designed to safely compost in place, killing bacteria, producing no run-off water, and offering soft, natural bedding for the pigs.

The team is back from work in American Samoa. Stay tuned for updates on IDLS, chicken coops, sensitive species, and more!

What’s an IDLS? The Inoculated Deep Litter System is a major advance in piggery water and waste management, and it’s more comfortable and healthy for the pigs!

It's Species Saturday! What lives beneath these blue waters in Palau? Diving into the reefs here, you may see reefs sharks, manta rays, napoleon wrasse, golden jellyfish, Kemedukl (Bumphead parrotfish) and many more species!

Mangroves in Micronesia! Mangroves are essential habitat for many species, a protected nursery underwater. They slow wave energy, providing protection from storms & sequester blue carbon! Mangroves are amazing & we felt lucky to not see any crocodiles this time while kayaking :)

The Bioreactor Garden we built in Palau is hard at work! Processes in the soil & plants growing at the surface pull nutrients from the septic system, removing chemical compounds & producing clean water. Exiting water irrigates the tree crops you can see thriving & growing fruit!

Check out the coconut husks! Pigs thrive on natural surfaces. IDLS is inexpensive to build, easy to maintain, offers the natural surfaces pigs love, and with no effluent from the system, protects the surrouding waterways. It's a win-win for farmers and healty watersheds!

Check out a Bioreactor Garden in Palau! How are healthy coastal ecosystems, clean water, and food security connected? Paul shares in one minute how we can feed many birds with one seed with nature-based engineering solutions. #bioreactor #naturebasedsolutions #climatehope

Reef fly-over during recent work in Palau advancing nature-based solutions to watershed challenges. Building nature based systems with eco-engineering & local materials is a climate-friendly, low-carbon approach to protecting water, coastal ecosystems & building circular economy

#SpeciesSaturday Staghorn coral is an important reef species. It used to be abundant, but white band disease has caused massive populations declines. Watershed work cleaning up sewage & stormwater pollution reduces stress on coral, supporting adaptation to fluctuating conditions.

Better for the budget. Better for the planet. Win-win. Nature-based systems are often more cost-effective over time than traditional infrastructure and can be scaled locally. #SmartSpending #GreenInfrastructure #WaterSolutions

Bioreactor gardens don’t just work to protect water quality—they look good, too. Aesthetic design supports adoption of these nature-based solutions in homes and businesses. Local plants as part of the design help local species too! #GreenDesign #EcoBeauty #FunctionAndForm

Storms just highlight the problem— water pollution happens every day when infrastructure underperforms or fails. #EveryDropCounts #DailyPollution

We’re all connected by water. What happens upland flows downstream. #RidgeToReef #WatershedWisdom

Whether at a school, business, or home—decentralized systems help reduce the pollution reaching sensitive ecosystems like rivers and reefs. #ActLocal #EcoImpact #CommunitySolutions

Plants, microbes, and soil work together to clean water naturally. Nature-based solutions like Bioreactor Gardens remove nitrogen and other pollutants through biological processes that mimic the microbial action and ecosystem services of wetlands. #BioreactorGarden