Dam removal practitioner perspectives on incorporating climate change into dam removal decisions in the eastern United States

Incorporating climate change into conservation and restoration decisions is increasingly important for natural resource managers and restoration practitioners. Dam removal is an example of a restoration tool that may offer multiple socio-economic and ecological benefits in urban streams and promote climate resilience. With the pace of dam removals increasing, practitioners and researchers are well-poised to incorporate climate change into future dam removal decisions. Therefore, we surveyed dam removal practitioners across 14 states in the eastern United States to understand current practices of dam removals, factors driving restoration decisions, and how climate change knowledge is incorporated into these decisions. We also aimed to identify barriers to and opportunities for knowledge exchange between practitioners and researchers. Of the 100 respondents, most (79%) consider climate change in their dam removal decisions to some extent. Despite this, many reported a lack of clear, relevant, and accessible data linking dam removal to climate resilience benefits. Dam removal practitioners also indicated that they most often rely on climate change information garnered from conversations with colleagues, rather than from scientific research products. These results suggest that the co-production of relevant, salient research questions and readily accessible and interpretable research products (e.g., technical summaries, open access articles) may encourage practitioners to incorporate climate change science more consistently and efficiently into dam removal decisions. These findings may also translate to other stream restoration efforts to inform knowledge exchange and improve restoration outcomes in a changing climate.