Issue identification module: introduction | social issues | historical issues | aesthetic issues | economic issues | legal and land-use issues | engineering issues | fish, wildlife, and environmental issues | summary | appendixes

Social issues

Many issues play an important role in the act of decision making, especially when the decision involves many people with different interests, as with dam repair/removal.

Community attitudes

Checklist questions

• Who are the people with a stake in the decision to remove or repair the dam? Can they be identified? How?
• Which stakeholder groups prefer that the dam be repaired? Removed?
• What are the current recreational uses of the pond created by the dam? How important is the dam to community members sentimentally and as a means for recreation, social gatherings, and community identity?
• What changes will there be in recreational use of the currently impounded area if it becomes a free-flowing river or stream? Would the river or stream create a place for social gatherings, community identity, and sentimental attachment?
• Are community members willing to pay for the repair and maintenance or for the removal of the dam? How much?

Toolbox

• One method of answering these questions that has been used by other communities facing the same decision is a public opinion survey. A sample is included in Issue identification Appendix C.
• Consider soliciting public input through forums such as public meetings, public hearings, informational gatherings, or even community barbecues or block parties.

Process of decision-making

Checklist questions

• How much time is there to make a decision to repair or remove the dam?
• Who should be ultimately responsible for making the decision to repair or remove the dam?
• Who should have input into the decision of whether to repair or remove the dam?
• What type of decision-making process is most appropriate for deciding the fate of the dam in your community (for example, unassisted negotiation, agency consultation, facilitation, mediation, or arbitration?)
• What types of decision-making processes have other communities with similar issues used to make this decision? Have they been successful? What can your community learn from their experience?
• What are appropriate mechanisms for informing stakeholders and citizens about relevant issues?

Toolbox

• The Decision-Making Process module contains information about how to organize groups to help answer these questions and address people interested in participating in the outcome.
• The Dam and River Ecosystem Basics module contains information about outreach.

Next section: Historical issues

URL: http://www.ies.wisc.edu/research/wrm00/issuesoc.htm