What happens to a stream when a man-made diversion erodes its streambed away? Or a bay that’s polluted with toxic chemicals from an industrial plant? How about a deforested mountain, previously populated by a rare and endemic tree species? When a place is destroyed or degraded, governments or organizations can employ the tools of environmental restoration to improve it. From ponds and streams to entire ecosystems, scientists and engineers strategize and work to improve degraded landscapes.

But the circumstances and goals of every restoration project are different, and even the term “restoration” is somewhat misleading. Projects don’t always re-establish the site as an exact replica of its former state. In many cases, that may not be possible, and often, that may not be most useful. A restoration project may be pursued in the interest of goals that seem only tangentially related to the damaged site itself.

In Maryland, streams are engineered to trap nutrients and keep them out of the ailing Chesapeake Bay. In England, a hill previously impacted by a road was restored with a chalk grassland habitat, not forest, to improve the view for nearby residents. At times, restoration projects involve experimental technological and engineering innovations. In some places, restoration projects can even be used as currency in exchange for other environmentally damaging activities. Trading systems between governments and industry maintain the overall stock of “natural capital” by restoring one area in exchange for degrading another.

All of these are examples of restoration extending beyond a simple repair to an ecosystem, and ideally, they add additional benefits to people in the process. Can a restoration project employ a town, save an endangered species, eliminate runoff pollution, or create a green city? For my beat, I will be pursuing the greatest success stories of environmental restoration from all over the world.