Title: Unnatural resource dependence: community adaptation to an altered environment

Authors: Jesse T. Weiss, Brian W. Eisenhauer

Addresses: University of the Ozarks, 415 N. College Avenue, Clarksville, AR 72830-2880, USA. ' Plymouth State University, Department of Social Science, MSC#39 Plymouth, NH 03264-1595, USA

Abstract: The construction of a dam represents a drastic change within an ecosystem that affects the physical environment and human and wildlife populations, which must adapt to the altered environmental conditions. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the ways the downstream community of Norfolk, Arkansas, adapted to environmental changes resulting from the construction of two large-scale dams. Guided by the human ecosystem model as created by Machlis, Force, and Burch (1997), this research uses multiple social research methods to develop a longitudinal portrait of changes and adaptations in the community. The results reveal that community adaptations have changed the demographic, economic, and social characteristics substantially. Many of the community adaptations have occurred in a manner that makes them largely dependent on continued human manipulation of the environment, a precarious condition for the amenity rich, resource-dependent community.

Keywords: human ecology; dams; community adaptation; downstream communities; retirement; tourism; resource dependence; dam construction; human ecosystems; environmental change; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2004.053926

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2004 Vol.6 No.2, pp.62 - 73

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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