This RCN project supports a research consortium studying effects of removing two dams on the Elwha River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The Elwha Restoration Act (1992) authorized the largest dam removal and river restoration project ever attempted. Scheduled for 2008, removal of the dams will allow 10 populations of anadromous fishes to return to 70 river miles blocked for 90 years. The project offers ideal conditions for research into the fundamental ecology of river systems. Because water above the dams is in Olympic National Park, the river is free from impacts of human development.
This grant supports coordination of a growing consortium of scientists to examine the return of salmon species; the fate of large woody debris; hydrology, sediments and water quality; the role of marine derived nutrients in forest food webs; control of invasive species; and other potential topics. The consortium will establish by-laws, coordinate work of teams in the field, and establish the experimental designs for the inter-connecting studies. The Elwha is a model system for dam removal demonstrating ecological processes under ideal conditions. Results from the Elwha will inform the world on the potentials and pitfalls of dam removal for river restoration.
