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As demonstrated by Indigenous and rural scholars, participatory research approaches can facilitate capacity building, promote data accessibility, and accomplish community goals within complex hydrosocial systems. To demonstrate challenges and opportunities for participatory research, we describe hydrosocial territories in a mining-impact region in northern Idaho. We then compare two communityuniversity partnerships in the study region, which included Tribal and non-Tribal rural communities. We find that the Participatory Action Research and Indigenous Research Methodologies frameworks provide a robust set of practices and methods for conducting more equitable and inclusive research. Further, participatory research approaches in research involving mining-impacted hydrosocial systems should: (1) build from established programs, goals, and practices; (2) identify respectful levels of partnership engagement, and (3) recognize partnership limitations. Future inquiry in complex hydrosocial systems should continue to build from the existing collection of participatory scholarship to address power imbalances and cultural differences and implement non-intrusive approaches to evaluate outcomes.

Climate risks are growing. Research is increasingly important to inform the design of strategies to manage these risks. But the relevance of many research studies to real- world decisions can be limited due to misalignment of values. There is no value-neutral strategy assessment, and the values assumed (often implicitly) within research need not align with those of stakeholders and decision makers—leading to inappropriate policy advice. Transdisciplinary projects need frameworks and guidance to integrate values into research assessing potential responses to climate risks. Here we describe and demonstrate a qualitative conceptual tool—the values-informed mental model (ViMM)— for visualizing the intersection of stakeholder values and coupled natural-human system dynamics. We define a visual language for ViMMs, describe accompanying practices and workflows, and present an illustrative example. ViMMs are useful for integrating inputs from diverse collaborators to support the design of relevant and inclusive research that assesses strategies in light of stakeholders’ values.