ࡱ> hjg 5bjbj .Pn_n_-H H AAAAAUUUU<4UEZ>>>>>J>>0:E>EE7KH : Teaching Notes Back to the Future: Dam Removal and Native Salmon Restoration on the Elwha River (Updated 2025) By Brian Footen and Jovana Brown Abstract: Dams on the Elwha River in Washington State have blocked salmon migration for one hundred years.These dams are now being removed. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is looking forward to having its treaty rights to fish from the Elwha River restored. This case examines two approaches for restoring harvestable, viable, and self-sustaining salmon runs to the River. Learning Objectives Learn about the significance of dam removal on the Elwha River. Understand the importance of Indian treaty fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest. Learn about the issues involved in salmon restoration to a river Understand the costs and benefits involved in utilizing hatcheries for salmon recovery. Learn about the key elements necessary for successful salmon recovery. Learn about the roles passive and active recovery of salmon will play in the Elwha River. Audience: Suitable to college students, upper division through graduate studies. This case is especially useful for study in environmental studies, natural resource policy, American Indian studies, biology, fishery science, anthropology political science, history, and law. Implementation The case can be taught in a variety of ways including a formal debate with two sides arguing about how to do salmon restoration. Small group discussions are particularly useful for addressing the key questions in the case. A three-hour class session would work in the following way. First, depending on the size of the class, divide the students into small groups (four to a maximum of seven students each is ideal) to facilitate discussion. Random assignment can be accomplished quickly through counting off. If the class is larger, create two sets of groups doing each set of questions. If they have not read the case in advance (which is always preferable), instruct the students to carefully read the case. After everyone has read the case, each group is given their discussion questions. The students record their conclusions on butcher paper. In the final part of the class, each small group presents their topics and conclusions to the larger group. This is followed by a general discussion about the case in which the teacher emphasizes the key points. Discussion questions Group #1 In terms of a salmon recolonizing effort, what is success to you? How long should it take? How many species should be recovered? Should all species be recovered to harvestable levels? Should the process happen with the assistance of hatcheries? Should the process happen without hatcheries? Is a combination of hatchery assisted and non-hatchery colonization ok? Group #2 What do you believe success is for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe? What does the U.S. v. Washington, 1974 (Boldt) decision mean for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe? Has the Tribe been able to exercise its treaty right to fish? Explain in detail why they have or have not. What does it mean for the Tribe to have the dams on the Elwha River removed? Be specific. Discuss and explain the role of the Tribe in the salmon restoration process. Why is the Tribe part of this decision making? Who are their partners in this process? Why are their partners involved? Does success for the Tribe mean having wild salmon restored to the river or having fish to catch? Explain your reasons for your answer. Group #3 How might success change given the different needs of the species? Chinook and steelhead salmon spawn in the upper reaches of rivers yet the ability to stock these parts of the Elwha with salmon are not accessible to planting fish. How will the unplanted reaches of the river become populated by these species? Chum and pink salmon are virtually extinct in the Elwha and primarily utilize lower river and estuary habitat. These reaches of the river are expected to be heavily impacted by sediment releases. What role might hatcheries play in the recovery of these species? Coho salmon require deep pool habitat in small streams that feed the main river. Vast quantities of this type of habitat will become available to coho after the dams are removed. However, the coho need to grow big in order to overwinter in this pool habitat. What may keep the coho from becoming big enough to survive the winters? No salmon have utilized the reaches above the dam for nearly 100 years, and any associated genetic stocks are more than likely expatriated. What if any difference is there between a straying naturally produced stock coming in from another basin and the utilization of an out of basin stock raised in a hatchery? Group #4 What is the relationship of habitat restoration to successful recovery? Describe one of the limits to the habitat above the dam. What impacts to the habitat of the lower river will the sediment stored behind the dam have as it is released? What do impact do these high levels of sediment have on salmon? How will the lack of large wood in the lower river limit recovery efforts? What role does the estuary play in limiting or enhancing recovery efforts? Group #5 What are some of the parallels to salmon decolonization on the Toutle River after Mt. St Helens eruption and the Elwha River? What role might sediment in the Elwha play? Initial recovery efforts may show success, what factors may limit later generations of salmon recovery in the Elwha? What role can hatcheries play in mitigating those limits? Harvest of salmon occurs in the open ocean where Elwha fish can be caught. Initial habitat conditions at Mt. St. Helens were poor as they will be in the Elwha. How can hatcheries help mitigate harvest of the recovering stocks? Can meta-populations play an important role in the Elwha? Group #6 Given what we know about how hatcheries can impact the fitness of different types of salmon, the importance of habitat quality for salmon recovery and survival, what the habitat conditions of the Elwha River will be during and after dam removal, and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe treaty rights, choose a species of salmon and make an argument for the best recovery strategy for those fish. In your argument address each of the foregoing considerations. Research Questions Select a specific salmon conservation hatchery and discuss the results from this in terms of salmon restoration. There is currently a proposal to remove four dams from the Klamath River in California. Discuss this proposal in terms of the issues regarding salmon restoration on the Klamath. Examine the Endangered Species Act in terms of salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest. Select a specific endangered or threatened species and find out what recovery efforts have accomplished. The Tribes and the State currently have an agreed to a Harvest Plan. What are the current impacts of this harvest plan on salmon produced in the Elwha River? Is harvest allowed on any salmon produced in the Elwha currently? Examine the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (FERC) requirements for relicensing privately owned dams. Do you think their environmental and safety standards mean that dams applying for relicensing will be retrofitted or removed? Find some examples of dams that have successfully been relicensed and others that have been removed. Explain your conclusions from this research. Post-Removal Outcomes (20122025 Addendum) Timeline: What Changed 20122014: Removal. Elwha and Glines came out in stages. The stored sediment moved as predicted. A period of extended turbidity, bed mobilization, and aggressive delta building at the mouth occurred as predicted. Anadromous access returned instantly in a legal sense, gradually in a biological sense as channel forms re-appeared. 20142016: Above dam use. Coho were the first to make consistent use of newly available gravels above the former barriers; pinks with a population near zero began showing up in higher numbers in odd years in the lower river; resident trout and bull trout expanded range. Vegetation began holding bars and benches in the former reservoirs. 20162019: System self-repair. Side channels, islands, and floodplain contact increased. Redds and juveniles were documented in reaches that had been inaccessible for a century. As the river reopened and turbidity stabilized, hatchery operations transitioned from emergency brood preservation toward long-term management. Hatchery production especially for Chinook and coho remains essential to rebuilding stocks and meeting treaty harvest objectives. 20192023: Stabilization and cultural milestones. Multi-species returns strengthened and shoreline and estuary habitats at the delta matured into useful rearing space. In 2023, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe conducted a limited subsistence and ceremonial fishery, a symbolic and governance milestone after a long period of no harvest focused on rebuilding. 20242025: Lessons. Recovery can occur despite extreme sediment load impacts. The river is now a reference point for large-scale removals. Geomorphology & Coastline a Decade Later Sediment: A front-loaded wave followed by tapering supply, bed sorting and bar building produced more hydraulic diversity and new spawning gravels. Delta & nearshore: Substantial expansion at the river mouth created new tidal flats and beaches important for juvenile salmon and forage fish improving the estuary bridge between river and ocean. Former reservoirs: Young forests are establishing on dewatered sediments (willowaldercottonwood), stabilizing surfaces and feeding wood to the mainstem river. The 2023 Subsistence & Ceremonial Fishery After more than a decade of restraint, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe conducted a limited subsistence and ceremonial fishery in 2023, reflecting both ecological readiness and tribal self-determination. It functioned as a cultural benchmark rather than a signal that recovery is finished. Broader Impact of the Elwha and the New Era of Dam Removal The Elwha project reset the national conversation about what rivers could become by removing derelict dams. Its success turned skepticism into policy precedent, proving that large-scale dam removal could be engineered, financed, and socially justified. In the decade since, the science and public confidence built on the Elwha have directly influenced removals across the country, from Maines Penobscot to Oregons Sandy and Rogue rivers. Removal culminated in the dismantling of four dams on the Klamath River, now the largest dam removal in history. Like the Elwha, the Klamath effort is driven by tribal leadership and grounded in ecosystem repair and cultural renewal, expanding what began on the Olympic Peninsula into a national model for river restoration. Addendum Teaching Notes Time is a design variable. Ask students to project 10 years ahead based on the past 10 years. Full removal matters. Contrast and compare re-opening the entire river to only removing the lower Elwha Dam. Justice is part of the objective. The 2023 fishery illustrates that recovery metrics are ecological and cultural. Explain the cultural significance.  Notes on Sources USGS long-term Elwha monitoring syntheses (sediment budgets; channel/delta change; fish response), NPS restoration updates (reservoir revegetation; infrastructure), NOAA Fisheries status notes, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe public materials, and regional reporting from The Seattle Times on milestones (dam removal stages, delta growth, salmon returns, and the 2023 ceremonial/subsistence opening). Footen, B., with analytical assistance from GPT-5 (2025). 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