Conflicts over the management of water, timber, climate change, endangered species and grazing can tear apart communities and have real impacts on local economies. And when scientists are invited to settle the issues, experts can become mired in their own conflicts.
Maneuvering a tiny boat over thundering ledges in places like Oregon’s Opal Creek Wilderness is no more dodgy than facilitating a series of community meetings in a tiny Coast Range town.
Working with OSU Professor Aaron Wolf, an international expert on water conflict resolution, Jennifer Veilleux was investigating the human dimensions of the dam’s development and, more broadly, the complex intertwining among peoples and waters the world over.