Research efforts, like the snorkel survey in 2007, provide useful information to scientists looking at the effects that the dams have had on the fish populations, and ecosystem as a whole.
Overview:
The Elwha project as a whole, including dam removal, restoration efforts, and protection measures, is serving as a “living laboratory” for monitoring large-scale ecosystem recovery and investigating particular ecosystem processes and components.
Research consists of a core program of monitoring activities and a set of prioritized research projects, supplemented by other research projects that are complementary to the program aims. This includes research on the following:
-Historical data (before the dams):
Anadromous fish, fisheries use, vegetation distribution, hydrology, land use.
-Baseline characterization (current conditions):
Fish populations and distribution, stream invertebrates, wildlife populations and distribution, hydrology, groundwater, sediments, estuarine/marine species and sediments, fisheries use, recreational use, other land use.
-Monitoring for restoration:
Anadromous fish, sediments, hydrology, stream invertebrates, riparian vegetation.
-Monitoring for ecosystem recovery: Vegetation, wildlife, nutrient flows
-Research on ecosystem recovery processes:
Marine-origin nutrients, recolonization of streams by anadromous fish, changes in river sediments and spawning habitat, vegetation recolonization and change in distribution, wildlife habitat changes, wildlife population and distribution dynamics
