Elwha Nearshore Recovery, November 2024 Update
Elwha nearshore, Nov. 2, 2024 © Anne Shaffer, CWI
Update from Anne Shaffer, PhD of the Coastal Watershed Institute on tracking Elwha nearshore ecosystem restoration post-dam removal.
A quiet beautiful November morning for this month’s long-term sampling of Elwha and Salt Creek nearshore. Mark Titus, filmmaker, fierce supporter of Bristol Bay wild ecosystems, and decades-long friend of CWI joined us for a couple of days as he continues his film legacy of what matters. We are every day grateful to be among such dedicated, earnest, good-willed champions. Over the decades, we have seen time and time again they are the reason for both success and hope. You can learn more about Mark and his films here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1951667/.
AND the November rains have finally arrived, raised river flows, and allowed salmon to return. This year there are an abundance of chum carcasses that have been washed out and deposited along the beach. Chum, historically the second most abundant salmon in the Elwha and the backbone of the Elwha ecosystem, were all but wiped out by the dams. Chum spawn during some of the roughest months of the year and aren’t a sought-after fish for recreational and commercial fishing (but ARE seasonally very important to SRKW). We are thrilled to see they are arriving to the Elwha despite continued challenges. THIS is a sign of true, hard-won ecosystem recovery. Thank you to L. Stebbins, one of our long-time community partners, for the poignant chum photo. As Mark says: ‘Save What you Love.’
We were lucky to capture the 2024 Beaver Moon along the Elwha nearshore this month. The last full moon of the season is called the ‘Beaver moon’—it heralds the time of year when beaver start settling in for winter. It’s a fleeting and stunningly beautiful time of year. This year the coastal beaver are largely gone from the Elwha west side channel. Key signs of their absence? The tell ‘tail’ (pun intended) beaver slides are grown over, the lodge is covered with vegetation, and willow are thick and growing along both sides of the entire west/Place levee. There are no fresh chew signs along the west side channel. Our work has revealed that deterrents of low water levels and high recreational use of the area contribute to this seasonal absence. We hope the coastal beaver are thriving in other areas of the restoring watershed that are more hospitable to them. And with winter flows activating the lower river, there is a good chance they will be back to the Place levee/Elwha west side channel site. Remember, the Elwha nearshore is a recovering ecosystem—NOT a park. Keep a keen eye on those dogs ON LEASH.
2024 Beaver Moon along the Elwha nearshore © Anne Shaffer, CWI
We begin our holiday season with the publication of our work restoring the east Elwha delta. The work reveals that, when present, armoring deters nearshore ecosystem recovery even in the face of large-scale dam removals; when armoring is removed ecosystems respond quickly, and that, when done properly, ecosystem processes are restored not only on the shoreline where the work occurs but also up to six kilometers away. It also is the latest testament to the connectivity of our nearshore world, and the importance to, foremost, conserve and protect intact coastal ecosystems. See the report here.
Thank you to all our collaborators for their continued goodwill, hard work, and partnership.
Keep going…
Dr. Shaffer is the Executive Director and Lead Scientist of the Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI), a small, place-based environmental non-profit formed in 1996 that is dedicated to understanding, protecting, and restoring coastal ecosystems thru community-led scientific partnerships. Shaffer and her team conduct world-class ecosystem science and restoration with very modest resources and from a remote base of operations.
Dr. Shaffer and the talented team she leads at CWI are now informing dam removals planning and actions worldwide. Dr. Shaffer has authored over twenty scientific publications on nearshore ecology and dam removal science and regularly presents her scientific work internationally. Her work is featured in Hakai Magazine, National Geographic, New Yorker Magazine, Al Jazeera, PBS (Earth works), and National Public Radio. Dr. Shaffer and her team have received conservation science awards from the Seattle Aquarium, American Fisheries Society, and Society of Ecological Restoration for work on coastal ecosystem science, conservation, and restoration, including the Elwha.
Dr. Shaffer was born and raised in a large family and a small town of eastern Washington struggling to overcome the ravages of WWII. The solitude of wild intact remote coastal shorelines of northwest Washington provided rare moments of peace and healing and instilled a fierce dedication to conserving and restoring wild places. After their first round of graduate school Shaffer and her husband Dave Parks moved to the Olympic Peninsula where they raised two children. Dr. Shaffer then returned to school and earned a PhD in Marine Science from the University of Victoria in 2017. She and her family continue to thrive in their dedication to fight for what matters. Their future focus is to instill a passion in the next generation to do the same.
More information on Dr. Shaffer and her work with the Coastal Watershed Institute can be found at www.coastalwatershedinstitute.org.
