Measuring the social changes from river restoration and dam removal

Abstract

The number of dam removals in the United States is expected to increase in the coming years, yet we know little about the social effects of dam removal on local people. Here we assess how two dam removals on a large river in the U.S. state of Maine changed local people's recreational use and perceptions of the river. We used focus groups and key informant interviews to define stakeholders' social areas of interest, conducted randomized phone surveys 5 years apart to measure changes in these areas of interest, and utilized a difference‐in‐differences technique corroborated by key informant interviews to analyze the results. Five years after dam removal, perceptions of water quality, swimming, paddling, fishing, and wildlife viewing increased, and the percentage of people saying the river was part of their family's life increased. Participation in walking/hiking also increased, but participation in boat fishing decreased, and the frequency of canoeing/kayaking declined. The observed effects were confirmed by ex‐post key informant interviews. Additional studies are needed to understand the full range of social effects from dam removals and river restoration activities and to improve our general understanding of the social aspects of ecological restoration activities.