Kruckeberg Annual Meeting to host talk on Elwha Dam restoration

Joshua Chenoweth

Joshua Chenoweth, head botanist for the Elwha River Dam Ecosystem Restoration Project, will address the annual meeting of the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden at Shoreline City Hall January 21. He will focus on the natural and managed revegetation that is part of the largest dam removal project in the US.

This event is open to all.

Revegetation of the former Elwha River reservoirs, Lake Mills and Lake Aldwell, began in 2011. It is an unprecedented effort to reverse the impacts of dams on a major river. Once completed, it will be the second largest restoration project ever undertaken by the National Park Service.

Removal of the Elwha Dam exposed nearly 800 acres of valley slopes, terraces, and floodplain that had been underwater for nearly 100 years, and left behind 30 million cubic yards of inorganic sediments. The buried, former forest floor presents a challenging substrate for plant colonization.

Former Lake Mills, July 2013

Chenoweth has led the Elwha revegetation project since 2007 when he was hired by the Olympic National Park to write the Revegetation and Restoration Plan for the reservoirs and the dam removal on the Elwha River. He has an MS from the University of Washington in Restoration Ecology and has worked in the Olympic National Park as a volunteer and biologist since 2001. He currently serves on the Society for Ecological Restoration Northwest Chapter's board of directors.

Chenoweth’s talk, “Revegetation of the Former Reservoirs on the Elwha River, 2011-2013,” will follow a short meeting of the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden Foundation, January 21, 2014, 7pm at Shoreline City Hall, 17500 Midvale Ave. N, Shoreline 98133.

The talk is free to KBGF members with a $5 suggested donation for others.