RCN: Elwha Research Consortium

这个RCN项目支持一个研究联盟，研究拆除华盛顿奥林匹克半岛埃尔华河上的两座大坝的影响。埃尔华岛恢复法(1992年)批准了有史以来最大的大坝拆除和河流恢复项目。计划于2008年拆除这些水坝，将允许10种沿河鱼类回到被封锁了90年的70英里的河流。该项目为研究河流系统的基本生态提供了理想的条件。由于大坝上方的水位于奥林匹克国家公园，这条河不受人类发展的影响。这笔赠款支持越来越多的科学家协调研究鲑鱼物种的回归；大型木质垃圾的命运；水文、沉积物和水质；海洋衍生营养物质在森林食物网中的作用；入侵物种的控制；以及其他潜在的主题。该联盟将制定章程，协调各团队在该领域的工作，并为相互关联的研究建立实验设计。ELWHA是一个示范理想条件下的生态过程的除坝模型系统。埃尔华河的结果将向世界通报拆除大坝以恢复河流的潜力和陷阱。

This RCN project supports a research consortium studying effects of removing two dams on the Elwha River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The Elwha Restoration Act (1992) authorized the largest dam removal and river restoration project ever attempted. Scheduled for 2008, removal of the dams will allow 10 populations of anadromous fishes to return to 70 river miles blocked for 90 years. The project offers ideal conditions for research into the fundamental ecology of river systems. Because water above the dams is in Olympic National Park, the river is free from impacts of human development.This grant supports coordination of a growing consortium of scientists to examine the return of salmon species; the fate of large woody debris; hydrology, sediments and water quality; the role of marine derived nutrients in forest food webs; control of invasive species; and other potential topics. The consortium will establish by-laws, coordinate work of teams in the field, and establish the experimental designs for the inter-connecting studies. The Elwha is a model system for dam removal demonstrating ecological processes under ideal conditions. Results from the Elwha will inform the world on the potentials and pitfalls of dam removal for river restoration.