This team helped to “grow water” by manipulating ecosystem restoration actions to generate further biological and ecological benefits for water resources. In Wisconsin, team members identified options to leverage hydrological improvements at three brownfield sites, including green infrastructure. In the Miami River watershed, team members recognized the potential for the Miami Conservancy District’s (MCD) Great Miami River Watershed Water Quality Trading program to offer a cost-effective approach to reduce effluent discharges at permitted point sources in the watershed. The team also determined how the MCD might build on its water quality trading program to become more ecosystem management-oriented.

In the Cuyahoga River watershed, team members analyzed a conservation development plan and assessed the potential for wetland mitigation credits to encourage restoration. The conservation development was designed to be a demonstration project of the Ohio EPA’s proposed “Conservation Properties Safety Net” program, which team members helped to initiate and which could save the city a total of $4.1 million. At Herrick Fen, team members approximated that 60 acres of credit could be negotiated to support the protection and/or restoration of adjacent lands critical to overall water quality.