Elwha Revegetation

A woman stands, working with a large number of native plant starts in a greenhouse. The starts in this picture all seem to be the same type, mostly green leaves with an orange hue to some of them.
Jill Zarzeczny transplants salal (Gaultheria shallon) at the Olympic National Park's Native Plant Center.

NPS photo

Overview:

The Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams that once impounded Lake Aldwell and Lake Mills, respectively were slowly drained so that the dams could be removed. Once the reservoirs have been emptied and the dam removal process is underway, the river will be restored to its original channel and the land previously inundated by the reservoirs will be exposed.

The Elwha River and Ecosystem Restoration Project's revegetation plan aims to restore this newly-exposed land with more than 400,000 native plants. The Matt Albright Native Plant Center, Olympic National Park's greenhouse facility, is the center of these efforts. Park botanists and a team of dedicated volunteers will begin planting in the Elwha reservoirs during the first year of dam removal, and will continue to monitor and replant over the next several years.

Objectives:

  • Minimize presence of invasive, exotic species.
  • Restore natural ecosystem processes.
  • Establish native forests.

Plant Propagation:

Over the course of several years and collection efforts, more than 120 bushels of cones have been collected, including those of Douglas-fir, grand fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock. The cones have been kept in cold storage at a commercial processing facility until revegetation work begins. Seeds and cuttings, including those from shrubs, herbs, and graminoids, have also been collected. In all, more than 80 native species-including black cottonwood, big leaf maple, bitter cherry, crabapple, oceanspray, red osier dogwood, salmonberry, snowberry, thimbleberry and willow-will be reintroduced to the reservoirs after nearly 100 years of inundation.

 
Five different bags, each with a different type of seed collected as part of a revegetation effort.
Seeds collected from the Elwha Valley by revegetation staff during one of many collection efforts.

NPS photo

 

 
undefined

This webpage was made possible in part by a grant from Washington’s National Park Fund.

Last updated: May 7, 2025

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

600 E. Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362

Phone:

360 565-3130

Contact Us