PORT ANGELES — Beavers are helping to restore the Elwha River.
That’s one fact Dr. Anne Shaffer, Coastal Watershed Institute executive director and lead scientist, shared with the Port Angeles Kiwanis Club on Thursday during its meeting at Jazzy Joshua’s.
“Beavers are ecosystem engineers because they are aquatic vegetarians that build lodges by building dams, which don’t stop the water, just slows it down,” Shaffer said, adding that salmon “love” the rivers beavers have built dams on.
Shaffer called beavers “ecosystem engineers” during the presentation while explaining that the creatures moved down to the Elwha River nearshore environment following the removal of the Elwha River dams.
Coastal Watershed Institute members started monitoring the beavers and discovered that the species were spotted during the fall, winter and spring. They were missing during the summer months.
Through more investigation, staff realized negative interactions between beavers and dogs and beavers and humans were affecting where the beavers would go during the summer. That led to a public engagement campaign.
“Local landowners are all in for the beavers now,” Shaffer said.
During Shaffer’s brisk presentation, she said the Coastal Watershed Institute aims to educate the next generation of scientists, partly with paid part-time internships.
The organization focuses on shoreline restoration, training and mentoring the next generation, and community outreach and education, according to Shaffer’s presentation.
Right now, the nearshore environment of the Elwha River is being studied to see how the removal of the dams has affected it.
The dams were installed on the river in the 1920s. Before the dams were built, Ediz Hook looked just like Dungeness Spit, Shaffer said while showing historical photos of the two geographical areas.
The installation of the dams severely impacted the fish species of the river. Chinook salmon went from 6,900 to between 1,500 and 2,000, coho went from 12,100 to less than 500, chum went from 18,000 to less than 250, pink went from 96,000 to less than 200, and sockeye went from 6,000 to less than 50, according to Shaffer’s presentation.
“The Elwha system severely degraded with much less spawning habitat,” Shaffer said.
When the dams were removed, the sediment that came flowing down the river was a “transformative event,” she said.
After the removal of the dams, the changes observed on the river include an increase in bare earth LiDAR data, the river channel has raised and changed, riparian zones have continued to grow and microalgae blooms disappeared, leading to improved water quality.
________
Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
