Community-based social impact assessment: The case of salmon-recovery on the lower Snake River

This paper presents a process for gathering and using data for socio-economic indicators in a community-based impact assessment conducted in 1999 across a three-state area. It assessed community-level impacts of alternative Federal actions to recover salmon runs, ranging from maintaining the existing hydro system to breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. Residents from 27 diverse communities participated in structured, interactive forums that sought to empower them with an understanding of the results of concurrent biological, economic and physical impact studies as the basis for making more informed judgments. This approach raises significant issues for developing and applying socio-economic indicators to a highly controversial effort to sustain endangered species across a large landscape.