Cultural ecosystem services (CES) assessments have the potential to guide environmental decision-making and increase equitability of outcomes for communities. However, the influence of social factors on CES is poorly understood and this limits their practical applications. To help address this gap, we designed a mixed methods study to identify environmental and social factors that affect CES experiences in the St. Louis River Estuary of Lake Superior. The objective of this research is to understand how place and personal identity interact to mediate the CES experiences of a community. The Waterway Benefits Survey targeted a diverse sample of over 700 participants and collected quantitative data on CES that respondents experienced in the past year, CES experience locations, barriers to CES experiences, and participant sociodemographics. Analysis focuses on how sociodemographics (age, gender, race, income) are associated with participants’ CES experiences. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with a subset of survey participants to help understand how place and identity interact to influence CES. Interviews will explore factors that enabled or prevented CES experiences and how sociohistorical factors influence CES experiences. Based on the results, we will identify management interventions to increase supply, quality, and equity of CES benefits. Results will be specific to the St. Louis River estuary but will be transferrable to similar social-ecological systems and will provide a holistic framework to measure and understand CES elsewhere.