image: Excavators begin the breaching of Veazie Dam. The removal of Veazie Dam, built in 1913, is a step in the Penobscot River Restoration Project, among the largest river restoration efforts in US history. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Meagan Racey (USFWS).
Researchers developed a model examining the economic, social, and ecological tradeoffs tied to the removal of dams at three spatial scales in the New England region of the United States, and found that incorporating a large number of dams into the model optimizes tradeoffs among the criteria used to determine dam removal, including ecosystem services, river safety, and economic costs, even if the tradeoffs vary by location; according to the authors, the model may assist future damming decisions by analyzing tradeoffs unique to the scale and location of dams.
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Article #18-07437: "A multiscale approach to balance trade-offs among dam infrastructure, river restoration, and cost," by Samuel G. Roy et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Samuel G. Roy, University of Maine, Orono, ME; tel: 207-649-4787; e-mail: samuel.g.roy@maine.edu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences