Elwha River Restoration

A large cooperative project is taking place with Olympic National Park in the Elwha River in anticipation of removal of two dams. Restoration of the entire river to natural free flows will allow returning salmon access to historic spawning grounds. This promises to return the historic giant Chinook salmon runs that are the cultural foundation of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. For thousands of years free flowing rivers in the Pacific Northwest provided the abundant salmon and steelhead fisheries for tribal subsistence. USGS provides the ecological baseline for pre- and post-dam removal estimates of environmental conditions and fish population status. John McMillan is a student working on the project and took the photograph, but contact Jason Dunham for additional information.