Bates College | Lynne Lewis

Shortly after a press release announced Lynne Lewis' scholarly = article=20 on dam removal, the Bates environmental economist learned where = her=20 academic research really hits home.

"Someone called from Augusta, Ga., wanting to talk about dam = removal on=20 the Savannah River," Lewis recalls. "A guy on the Snake River in = Idaho=20 e-mailed me, and so did a guy from Oregon where a dam is coming = out on the=20 Sandy River."

Lynne = Lewis stands on=20 the Auburn side of the Androscoggin River with the former Cowan = Mill, in=20 Lewiston, in the background.

For people in scores of U.S. communities, Lewis' research is = news they=20 can use. "Hundreds of small dams around the country will come up = for=20 relicensing over the next decade," she says. "It is a contentious = topic,=20 and people who are considering dam removal want some numbers."

The numbers that Lewis and her coauthors produced in their = article show=20 that when a small hydroelectric dam is removed =E2=80=94 in this = case, a dam on=20 the Kennebec River in Augusta =E2=80=94 the value of nearby homes = goes up. It's a=20 landmark study because it's the first such hedonic analysis, one = that=20 tries to estimate what people are willing to pay for "various = attributes=20 of housing choice, including environmental quality," says Lewis. = In this=20 case, the question is what people will pay to be near a = free-flowing=20 river.

"Lynne has provided = a model=20 for how to do it. Without studies like this, we're really = flying=20 blind."

Looking = back, Mainers=20 living in river cities like Waterville, Augusta, or Lewiston = historically=20 would pay to live quite far from the water, which was seen as a = sometimes=20 stinky part of the cities' industrial landscape. But in her = complex=20 examination of three Kennebec River hydropower sites, including = the site=20 of the former Edwards Dam in Augusta, Lewis found a changing = reality.=20 While property values near the river are still lower than those = farther=20 away, riverfront values have increased.

Lewis' findings appeared in the April 2008 issue of = Contemporary=20 Economic Policy and were co-authored by Curtis Bohlen, = director of the=20 Casco Bay Estuary Partnership at USM's Muskie School of Public = Service=20 (and former Bates faculty member), and by Sarah Wilson '06, now a = research=20 analyst with the Washington state Department of Ecology.

"This is real pioneering work," says David Hart, director of = the Sen.=20 George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research = at the=20 University of Maine. While most people agreed on other = improvements since=20 the dam removal =E2=80=94 the return of striped bass and Atlantic = salmon and a=20 spike in recreational use =E2=80=94 "only in the last decade has = there been any=20 movement to understand the economic consequences of dam removal," = Hart=20 says.

"Lynne has provided a model for how to do it. Without studies = like=20 this, we're really flying blind."

Lewis grew up in water-rich New England, but her interest in = water=20 management was piqued out West at the University of Colorado, = where she=20 earned a Ph.D. in economics. She studied under Charles Howe, = perhaps the=20 best-known water economist in a region where water issues are = historically=20 and notoriously politicized. Says Lewis, "Here I was in the = high-plains=20 desert asking, =E2=80=98Where's the water?'" In 1995, her = dissertation on=20 water-sharing across state lines and how to resolve disputes = received the=20 Universities Council on Water Resources Dissertation Award.

Since returning to New England, Lewis, an associate professor = of=20 economics, has applied her knowledge and skills to the East's = wetter=20 environment. Here, she says, "water is a very contentious topic as = well,=20 though the issues are more quality-related than quantity-related." = Maine,=20 in particular, is a living laboratory of environmental economic = issues=20 that can test an academic's skill at communicating new knowledge = with=20 multiple audiences, from Bates students to lay people outside the=20 College.

"It is important to me to be working on local issues," says = Lewis. "I=20 want to make a difference where I live, and it is important to me = to=20 convey to the public the knowledge created at an institution like = Bates.=20 And I want to be studying current issues. I couldn't be an = academic=20 without doing something real."

The Edwards Dam, which had blocked the lower reaches of the = Kennebec=20 River for 162 years, was the first dam in U.S. history to have its = hydropower license renewal refused by the Federal Energy = Regulatory=20 Commission. "Typically when dams came up for relicensing, they = would do a=20 cost-benefit analysis, but it was superficial," Lewis says. "It = was always=20 power versus no power and, of course, power wins."

In the case of the Edwards, however, an alliance known as the = Kennebec=20 Coalition convinced FERC that it needed to do a better job at = estimating=20 the potential environmental, social, and economic benefits of = removing the=20 dam =E2=80=94 from allowing migratory fish to return to the river = to increasing=20 recreational opportunities. And in 1997, FERC recommended = "complete=20 removal of the dam," which was breached on July 1, 1999.

Lewis joined the Bates faculty in 2000, and as the years went = by she=20 became "intrigued that no one had investigated whether the = predictions=20 about the good things that would happen as a result of the dam's = removal=20 were right." The hedonic study, however, is just a start.

In a forthcoming issue of the Journal of the American Water=20 Resources Association, Lewis and Jesse Lance Robbins '06 will = present=20 survey findings that indicate that anglers are spending more money = and=20 visiting more spots on the Kennebec. Meanwhile, she and her = students are=20 surveying Lewiston-Auburn residents about the Androscoggin River's = role in=20 their decision to purchase property.

It's all groundbreaking work, says Nick Bennett, watershed = project=20 director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. The NRCM is a = member=20 of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, which has purchased = three dams=20 from an energy company with the aim of demolishing two and = constructing a=20 fish bypass on the third.

"Maine law requires dam projects to have economic benefits, but = mostly=20 we've had to make that determination qualitatively," Bennett says. = "All of=20 us who care about these things believe fishing has gotten better = on the=20 Kennebec, but Lynne is getting the numbers that give rigor to = those=20 qualitative judgments. That's pretty cool."