Institutional panarchy: Adaptations in socio-hydrological governance of the South Dakota Prairie Pothole Region, USA

Abstract

This study develops and applies the Institutional Panarchy Framework (IPF) to examine institutional adaptations in the rights, rules, and authority to govern public access and use of ‘nonmeandered waters’ (NMWs) overlying private lands in the South Dakota Prairie Pothole Region (SD PPR). Data collection from March 2017 through July 2019 involved field observations of legislative and other public meetings and review of legislation, policy, court cases, documents, and existing statistics. Findings demonstrated how hydrological changes resulted in everyday, operational level changes in how access and use rights to NMWs were executed, conflict over rules governing use and access of NMWs at the collective choice level, and eventually constitutional level changes in the authority to determine rights and rules of access and use of NMWs. A key contribution for commons and socio-hydrological governance scholarship is that institutional resistance and pressures for change are not unidirectional; feedbacks from lower institutional levels spur change at higher levels and broader scales. Broader policy implications include institutional mechanisms for potential improvements in water quality, farm sustainability, and climate justice.