USGS Western Fisheries Research Center scientist, Steve Rubin, was featured in a High Country News article about a long-term study of the Elwha River. Completing his 12^th dive at the site in 2023, Rubin has been conducting dive surveys around the mouth of the Elwha River for over a decade as part of an evaluation of ecosystem health and recovery since the Elwha dams were breached in 2011.

Through the years, Rubin and his team, with partners from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (lead Matt Beirne) and Washington Sea Grant (lead Ian Miller), have meticulously documented the ecosystem recovery resulting from the dam removal efforts. The results are published in the journal, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Since 2018, they have found that species diversity continues to increase as a majority of the sediment has settled at the river delta or has washed away. The marine ecosystem has changed substantially, allowing for new creatures to thrive in the altered habitat – such as the Pacific sand lance and Dungeness crabs, which nestle in the soft sediment sea floor, and for salmon to flourish. 

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Meanwhile, researchers are preparing to study the removal of four dams located in southern Oregon and Northern California along the Klamath River, in a 500 million dollar project culminating in late 2024. 

WFRC is well known for our work related to dam removal and ecosystem recovery. Our teams have been working with our partners to address unique and challenging ecosystem questions and come up with innovative solutions to dam removal throughout the Pacific Northwest. Our research on dam removal with our partners has allowed us to look at both short term and long term ecosystem responses. Our partners on this study include the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Washington Sea Grant. This research can be applied to informing dam removal efforts across the nation, and leads to the development of effective solutions to improve ecosystems, making them healthy for fish and other aquatic species.

In the face of aging infrastructure and climate change impacts, our role in providing accurate data on dam removals is critical now more than ever to support decision makers and the public when assessing whether a given dam should be removed, repaired, or rebuilt.