Integrating public preferences with biophysical production possibilities: an application to ecosystem services from dam removal

Abstract

Effective management of ecosystem services requires understanding the biophysical relationships governing the trade-offs, as well as stakeholder preferences for the trade-offs. However, useful tools to guide the complex decision-making process are often lacking. This study demonstrates an approach that combines biophysical and economic models to identify socially preferred solutions. We demonstrate in the context of dam-removal decisions across thousands of dams in Maine, U.S. The results demonstrate the practical usability of this framework for identifying key trade-offs, areas in which people are in agreement and conflicted, along with solutions that are more preferred by society overall. The results also reveal a 30–47% welfare gain from optimizing across all ecosystem services, compared to a more common, visual approach of optimizing two services at a time. This approach may be useful to identify restoration projects that are likely to garner broad public support, particularly when there are trade-offs between ecosystem services, numerous potential solutions, and communities with diverging preferences.