Dams and reservoirs are ubiquitous, widely used to improve human well-being, a key player in regional and global biogeochemical and ecosystem dynamics, and rapidly increasing in number and influence. Further, dam and reservoir management decisions can have unintended environmental consequences that, in-turn, have the potential to influence dam and reservoir management. The Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems, Dams as Adaptive Management Systems (DISES DAMS) project, a new, multi-year, National Science Foundation-funded project based at Washington State University will use a convergence research approach to achieve an integrated understanding of the dynamic, reciprocal relationship between environmental and social (institutions and values) systems by examining dam and reservoir operations, the decision-making process governing those operations, and feedbacks between this decision-making process and the environment. Through a suite of coordinated field-based measurements in focal Pacific Northwest reservoir systems, mining of available data, and consultations with a community of stakeholders, we are addressing the overarching question: Under what conditions are individuals, groups, and institutions likely to follow rules “to the letter” versus exercising discretion or making new rules? The DAMS project will use reservoir water management as a test-case to understand how the environment and society interact to shape rule-following, rule-reformulation and discretionary behaviors, and how, in-turn, these behaviors affect reservoir greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, harmful algal blooms, and aquatic invasive species. In pursuing these goals, this project will generate fundamental new knowledge about how environmental conditions affect environmental management, and, in-turn, how resource management decisions affect environmental conditions. This poster will elaborate on project goals, early results, and planned activities.