Beyond Binaries

ABSTRACT

Removing small legacy dams can help improve habitat connectivity along rivers, re-establish the flow of sediments and nutrients, support anadromous fish populations, and reduce the risk of flooding to upstream and downstream communities. However, decisions around dams are often controversial and can lead to lengthy and contested debates. Given the growing number of dam removal cases that have failed or been delayed due to community resistance, new methods for involving communities in the decision-making process around dams are necessary. Yet there is limited research and few examples to guide efforts to create quality public engagement that might contribute to a better decision-making process around dams. This article presents a structured and collaborative approach to involving the public in the decision-making process around small legacy dams. We take a transdisciplinary approach, bringing together public engagement tools from the design and planning disciplines with Structured Decision Making. We tested these methods in a public workshop in Keene, New Hampshire, using a pre- and post-survey. This article contributes to existing discourses concerning the role of the public in ecological restoration and environmental management decisions and aims to provide a framework that can help support decision making at other complex dam sites.