This project compares the implementation, acceptance, and progress of dam removal projects in France, using the example of the Sélune, and in the United States, where several similar removal projects have taken place.

In a nutshell: This research project focuses on the social and geographical dimensions of the ecological restoration of the Sélune River. Its objective is to assess the current state of the landscapes, land uses, and practices in the Sélune Valley (and more specifically in the gorge section) prior to the removal of the dams, and then to monitor the changes brought about by the removal: the state of both material transformations (land use, practices, visitor traffic) and conceptual transformations (perceptions, discourse) of the territory in order to assess the impacts of this project and thereby measure its success from the users’ perspective (quality of life, regional development, practices, etc.) to understand, using the example of the Sélune, the difficulties in gaining acceptance and ownership of such a project by various local stakeholders, as well as the challenges related to its definition and implementation. Methods used: surveys, questionnaires, analysis of the local press, photography Data: - A collection of photographs (~40) covering the entire Sélune Valley to track changes in the landscape - Historical photographs and postcards. Photographs will be annotated and geotagged - Inventory of land uses (fishing, recreation, lodging, etc.), analysis of visitor traffic in the gorges, and mapping - Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with representatives of user groups (to gather their opinions) - Text analysis (using Alceste or WordMapper software) of transcribed interviews - Collection of residents’ opinions and assessment of their satisfaction with the project - Corpus of articles published in the regional daily press to track the history of reactions - Collection of information disseminated via other media platforms such as blogs, forums, and websites by various stakeholder groups, particularly fishermen, environmentalists, and opponents of the clearing - Codification of the corpus followed by a lexical and semantic analysis using the TXM platform