Elwha Watershed Information Resource

The Elwha Research Consortium (ERC) is a strategic partnership between governmental agencies, research and educational institutions, and community groups focused on understanding the social and ecological effects of dam removal and restoration activities in the Elwha River watershed. ERC is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Coordination Network (RCN) group.

After over a decade of planning, the removal of two dams on the Elwha River is scheduled to begin by 2012. When the dams are removed, 10 anadromous fish stocks will return to 70 miles of river from which they’ve been excluded for more than 90 years. With $182 million of federal funds committed, the Elwha River Restoration Project (Elwha Restoration Act of 1992, PL102-495) is the largest dam removal ever attempted. Project funds will restore salmon and protect water quality, but none of these funds are earmarked for research or education.

However, the Elwha project provides unparalleled research opportunities to study questions fundamental to river restoration, including:

Many baseline and pre-removal studies were published in a special issue of Northwest Science, which can be accessed in the Publications page.

The upper Elwha watershed provides the ultimate study location for testing hypotheses related to river (and fisheries) restoration under ideal conditions, because it is protected as part of Olympic National Park. Restoration efforts that succeed here could be applied in other similar cases. However, if salmon restoration is unsuccessful under these conditions, the implications for all other Pacific Northwest rivers are dire. (Dam removals are increasingly viewed as a means of restoring riverine ecosystems; particularly so in the Pacific Northwest where salmon stocks are seriously depleted and many rivers are dammed.)

Over the past few years, research along the Elwha River has increased--even though no project funds are available. Many scientists obtained small grants or piecemeal internal support to gather essential and basic baseline research data. More recently, individuals from a wide variety of organizations have been collaborating to help ensure that research and education efforts associated with the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project are efficient and productive, and in hopes of combining or linking projects to gain additional value-added support or new grant funding. To provide a central location for research coordination and support, these individuals have formed the Elwha Research Consortium (ERC).

ERC’s mission is to facilitate and coordinate a long-term program of research and education on the ecology and management of the Elwha River watershed. They wish to improve the understanding of the (1) watershed, (2) ecological and societal effects of large-scale dam removal, and (3) processes associated with ecosystem restoration. ERC will accomplish this through the coordination, facilitation, development, and implementation of Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project-based multi-agency/researcher science, education, and public outreach programs.

ERC provides a venue for researchers, educators, community groups, funders, interested individuals, and public officials to:

The overall goal of ERC is to answer questions central to river restoration and management, while providing scientific training opportunities for students and educational opportunities for the general public. By serving as a coordinator for all of the interested parties, ERC assists with integration of:

ERC’s goals are to:

ERC fosters the collection and sharing of research information by: