Citation:

Norris, C., Amy E. Pelka, C. Nigrelli, D. White, G. Beaubien, T. Newcomer-Johnson, AND M. Mills. Understanding Linkages Between Environmental Actions (Remediation and Restoration) and Revitalization in Great Lakes Areas of Concern. 11th International Conference on Remediation & Management of Contaminated Sediments, Nashville, TN, January 25 - 28, 2022.

Impact/Purpose:

The effects that remediation and restoration projects have on community revitalization have long been of interest to Great Lakes communities, researchers, and practitioners alike. While much discussion and excitement has developed around this relationship, much less research has empirically drawn connections between the two. Additionally, even fewer studies have systematically defined community revitalization and its encompassing pieces.    We used directed content analysis of the literature to develop community revitalization attributes and comprehensively define community revitalization. We then surveyed local experts to establish likely connections between remediation and restoration success (using Beneficial Use Impairment removal as a proxy) and community revitalization via developed attributes. We used the survey results to develop an AOC-Revitalization Framework that connects environmental health metrics to community revitalization indicators for Great Lakes communities. By establishing a comprehensive definition for community revitalization using the three pillars of sustainability and the AOC-Revitalization Framework, this presentation provides a clear structure to further study and document the impact Area of Concern projects have on surrounding communities and outlines potential metrics to evaluate revitalization attributes. We believe this manuscript will be of great interest to a wide range of stakeholders, including but not limited to, Great Lakes researchers, environmental practitioners at the federal, state and local level, community planners or community organizers. 

Description:

Background/Objectives. The benefits of sediment remediation and habitat restoration are considerable and have been well assessed at many projects including at Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). The Great Lakes National Program Office developed a paradigm termed Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) that asserts that remediation and restoration and revitalization are related to each other and that the first two “R’s” can lead to the third R of revitalization. However, there are few studies specifically measuring these relationships and demonstrating how environmental actions with clear environmental responses can lead to community level responses manifesting as revitalization.   Approach/Activities. To assess the linkages between remediation and restoration with revitalization we need appropriate metrics. We utilized an AOC-wide measure, Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) removal, which occurs when ecological functions and uses have been restored following the completion of all remediation and restoration projects. Our research team developed a framework to link revitalization attributes to the BUIs. This framework is structured around the three fundamental pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social. These pillars were used to organize the attributes and linkages to the BUIs.  Revitalization attributes were created using qualitative content analysis on AOC case studies, community planning documents, and literature. Applying a bottom-up approach, potential metrics were organized based on the themes, designated as revitalization attributes, that emerged from the research. These themes were then defined and further categorized within the three pillars of sustainability. Once the framework was established, we utilized a mixed-methods approach to develop a survey and focus groups to develop linkages between these revitalization attributes and BUIs. Our research team asked how likely BUI removal will lead to community revitalization as represented by revitalization attributes. Results/Lessons Learned.  We will present the framework of all 14 BUIs and their linkage to various revitalization attributes. Survey results identified key BUIs that have linkages to revitalization as well as identifying which aspects of revitalization (revitalization attributes) they were associated with. Significant relationships between BUIs and clusters of revitalization attributes will also be shared as identified by survey respondents and focus groups. Finally, qualitative analyses of the focus groups will provide insights into the nature of the linkage between environmental responses (BUIs) following remediation and the community response of revitalization. Further, additional development and applications of the Revitalization Framework will be presented.

Record Details: