Nature Based Solutions

Speaker:  Tyler Ortego, P.E.

Presentation Description
Federal infrastructure spending is increasingly addressing issues of sustainability and resilience. Buzzwords such as “Nature Based Infrastructure”, “Engineering with Nature”, “Ecosystem Services”, “Green Infrastructure” and “Low Impact Development” are often attached to funding. This presentation will give an overview of these concepts, while focusing on FEMA’s competitive Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program which gives substantial scoring benefits to proposals featuring Nature Based Solutions. The BRIC program is expected to provide up to $1 billion of funding in the next round.

This presentation will provide:
– Buzzword Bingo: an overview of the various terms and their applicability
– BRIC program overview, emphasizing where Nature Based Solutions enhance a proposal’s competitiveness
– Case studies that highlight how concrete drainage products can facilitate or enable Nature Based Solutions

Learning Objectives
1. Understand key concepts of Nature Based Solutions and related terminology
2. Gain a basic understanding of FEMA’s BRIC program and where Nature Based Solutions enhance likelihood of funding
3. Recognize different examples of Nature Based Solutions based on presented case studies
4. Understand how concrete drainage products fit into the concept of Nature Based Solutions.

Speaker Bio
Tyler Ortego, PE is a technical resource engineer for Forterra, covering the greater New Orleans area and coastal Mississippi. His journey with sustainable infrastructure began way back in his LSU undergrad days where he worked on projects to grow living oyster reefs into sustainable, resilient, engineered coastal protection infrastructure. Tyler’s work with ecosystem based infrastructure resulted in multiple patents and a variety of recognition such as being named the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week’s Big Idea, a Clean Tech Open global finalist, ASCE Innovation Contest honoree, MIT Solve finalist and Shell Gamechanger. Tyler lives in Metairie, LA with his wife Kim and their three very energetic young children.