#elwha river

[fernweh-arcane]

Salmon Cascades

[sanddollarpoems]

Some places live inside of us forever, no matter where we are.

(Music: Tony Anderson, "Fleurie")

[bumblebeeappletree]

Ten years after the largest dam removal in history—on the Elwha River, in Washington State—scientists are chronicling an inspiring story of ecological rebirth. Recovering salmon populations are transferring critical nutrients from the ocean into the forests along the Elwha’s banks, enriching the entire ecosystem. The Elwha’s revival is encouraging advocates to push for the removal of many larger dams in the region, and in the rest of the world.

[barstoolblues]

Elwha River, WA

5/23

[twoseparatecoursesmeet]

The Elwha River, 1944

[kkomppa]

flow unrestricted

[paulpingminho]

[gatheringbones]

OUTDOORS: Elwha River summer steelhead on the rebound | Peninsula Daily News

New short film documents in-river research surveys

[“Four teams of researchers from Olympic National Park, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, NOAA, state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Trout Unlimited conducted snorkel surveys and electrofished 43 miles of the river in September 2019, estimating a return of 920 wild summer steelhead last year.

That number could mean the Elwha River contains the largest population of summer steelhead than any water body draining into Puget Sound or along the Washington coast.

Thought to be “basically extinct,” even before the dam removal project got underway, this rebound is astounding, especially when poor Pacific Ocean conditions are factored in for this sea-going species and when compared to Elwha winter steelhead returns and summer steelhead returns on different rivers.

“[Conditions in the] North Pacific looked bad, and we are seeing some of the worst runs we’ve ever seen on the Olympic Peninsula and these numbers are shooting through the roof,” Joyce resident and Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead United initiative science director John McMillan said in an interview with steelhead angler Lee Geist. “How many [more] survivors would we have [in 2019 if] ocean conditions were like the early 2000s?

“When I’m snorkeling [the Elwha] and seeing all the fish, so many more fish than I see in the Hoh or the Sol Duc, Calawah or the Bogey [Bogachiel] [it makes we wonder] what happens to fish when you stop fishing for them and killing them for a period of time?””]