Baseline Riparian Wildlife Communities in the Elwha River Ecosystem
Collaborators:	Study 1) Patti Happe (NPS), Kurt Jenkins, Mike Adams (USGS-FRESC) Study 2) Patrick Shafroth (USGS-FORT)
Funding:	USGS National Resources Preservation Program USGS Park Oriented Biological Support Program

In 2012, the Department of the Interior will begin dismantling two hydroelectric dams that have blocked the annual return of anadromous fish to Olympic National Park’s Elwha River system for over 90 years. Removal of the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams is significant in representing the largest of approximately 450 previous dam removal projects in the United States. Expected benefits include restoring 6 species of native salmonids to over 47 km of prime spawning habitat above the dams (e.g., pink, chum, coho, Chinook, sockeye and steelhead), and wild salmon and steelhead runs are estimated to increase by almost 400,000 adult fish following full restoration. These fish inhabit marine environments during most of their growth and then migrate to freshwater rivers where they spawn and die, contributing significantly to nutrient budgets of freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes.

Documenting the recovery of the Elwha River ecosystem following restoration of anadromous salmonids is a high priority for monitoring in Olympic National Park. Our group is collaborating on two projects that will contribute to understanding the effects of restoring salmon (and associated marine nutrients) on 1) the productivity and trophic structure of wildlife in riparian ecosystems and 2) riparian plant community composition and soils. These studies are collecting baseline data of in-stream and streamside wildlife community composition and trophic structure, relative abundance of key mammalian and amphibian taxa, riparian plant community composition, soil chemistry and stable isotope (C, N, S) composition, and isotopic evidence of marine-derived nutrients in key wildlife taxa. This pre-dam removal data will allow us to document effects of fish restoration once dams are removed, and will serve important regional and national information needs pertinent to evaluating other dam removal and fish reestablishment projects.

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U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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Last Update: January 25, 2003
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