Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization: Engaging Communities to Support Ecosystem-Based Management and Improve Human Wellbeing at Clean-up Sites

Abstract

Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) is a framework to identify ecological and policy-based relationships between large-scale aquatic sediment remediation projects, subsequent habitat restoration projects, and waterfront revitalization. A defining feature of R2R2R is that it possesses three essential feedback loops: a translational ecology feedback loop, an adaptive management feedback loop, and a project management feedback loop. The R2R2R framework builds on Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) theory by addressing the role of humans through these feedback loops, and by recognizing the ability of communities to learn and make choices that improve the environment through translational science. In this framework, translating ecological changes from remediation and restoration projects to public benefits (e.g., swimmable water, potential for urban greenspace) using the concept of ecosystem services is critical to support decisionmaking. In practice, community perceptions and uses of the remediated and restored ecosystem or habitat are central to EBM. We use the Great Lakes Area of Concern program to illustrate how R2R2R exemplifies EBM for large, complex sediment remediation and aquatic habitat restoration projects.