Release Date: 4/26/2005
Contact(s): Dr. Bradley Smith, WWU Huxley College of the Environment, (360) 650-3521 Brad.Smith@wwu.edu
Dr. William Eaton, Peninsula College, at (360) 417-6426 bille@pcadmin.ctc.edu
PORT ANGELES – Recently awarded National Science Foundation grants totaling $1 million will support a unique consortium in unprecedented studies of the ecological effects of the removal of two major dams on the Elwha River.
Peninsula College and Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment each was awarded approximately $500,000 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for this initiative. Other members of the Elwha Research Consortium are: the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center; Olympic National Park; the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center; and Olympic Park Institute.
The 45-mile-long Elwha River, which flows through the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, was once one of the most productive salmon rivers in the Pacific Northwest. The Elwha was home to all five species of Pacific salmon, as well as other fish species. Construction of two hydroelectric dams in the early 1900s curtailed the river’s productivity and flooded important habitat and cultural sites, eliminated or reduced runs of salmon and steelhead, and degraded water quality downstream
In 1992, with passage of the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to fully restore the Elwha River ecosystem and native anadromous fisheries (fish that migrate up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh water). Extensive environmental analysis and public comment led to the finding that dam removal is the only way to restore the river and its ecosystem.
Removal of both the 108-foot-tall Elwha and 210-foot-tall Glines Canyon dams is scheduled to begin in 2008. These NSF grants will support the multi-agency and multi-disciplinary consortium’s five-year effort to conduct field studies before and after removal of the dams. Peninsula College students and students enrolled in upper division classes offered by Western’s Huxley College of the Environment at Peninsula College will develop their own research projects under the guidance of consortium mentors. The grants will sponsor 16 undergraduate students each year, including four tribal students.
Students will regularly collect and analyze samples in the Elwha during all seasons of the year and will be able to address questions in ecological science that have never before been studied in this context and at this scale. Students also will participate in educating the public on the dam removal and river restoration effort.
The grants will allow consortium scientists and students to study the return of salmon to the river, as well as topics such as the fate of woody debris, hydrology, water sediments and water quality, control of invasive species and fitness of hatchery versus native salmon stocks. Since much of the river’s watershed is in the Olympic National Park, scientists and students will be able to make a comparative analysis of managed and unmanaged parts of the watershed.
Issues of dam removal, salmon recovery and ecosystem restoration are widespread and increasing, both in the United States and around the Pacific Rim. Although nearly 450 dams have been removed in the United States, there are few published studies documenting ecosystem effects and most of the work done has focused on small dams. Consortium research should provide valuable insight into the problems and benefits of dam removal for river restoration.
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