Please bring a friend and join us for the next Olympia Science Café.
When: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Where: Orca Books 509 East 4th Avenue, Olympia Phone 360.352.0123
Our November topic is Dam removal and restoration of the Elwha River — An Update
With their simultaneous decommissioning, removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams represents one of the largest projects of its kind. During the 3 years of dam removal, scientists actively monitored various aspects of the physical and biological changes to the river and coastal ecosystems downstream. A major facet of the dam removal project was the controlled release of a portion of the 21 million m3 of sediment that had accumulated in the reservoirs. The release of this material and the resulting changes downstream are the focus of this talk.
Anadromous fish that had persisted in degraded spawning and rearing habitat downstream of the lower Elwha dam have started to recolonize the watershed, including in two tributaries between the former dams sites that are serving as clear water refugia in the otherwise turbid waters. With the removal of the Glines Canyon Dam in September of 2014 salmon have access to over 150 river km of spawning and rearing habitat, the majority of which is protected as wilderness inside of Olympic National Park.
This presentation will provide an update of dam removal progress, detail measurements of suspended sediment concentrations, and discuss various monitoring and evaluation studies.
Our speaker is Jeffrey Duda, Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, Seattle, WA. For over 19 years he has conducted research to determine the ecological effects of human activities on a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial organisms and ecosystems throughout the United States. Since 2004, Jeff has developed monitoring and evaluation data on the freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems before, during and following the Nation’s largest dam decommissioning project on the Elwha River. He has served as leader of the multidisciplinary team of USGS researchers focused on the Elwha as part of the USGS Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound Elwha project. A firm believer in networking and building collaborative relationships, he has edited 2 volumes of research papers focused on the Elwha River, co-authored 17 scientific papers on the Elwha, and has helped organize scientific meetings of the Elwha research community, including as co-chair of the 2011 Elwha River Science Symposium held at Peninsula College.
December Topic and Speaker
Plastic — It’s what’s for breakfast.
by
Peter Hodum, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Puget Sound