Dams installed along iconic river systems over the last century are a stunning legacy of ‘manifest destiny’ that have severely deformed many once pristine ecosystems, cultures, and livelihoods throughout the Pacific Northwest and around the world. The largest dam removal project in North America is just being completed on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington state. The […]

DamNation is a powerful film odyssey across America that explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go […]

Dungeness Schoolhouse 2781 Towne Road, Sequim CWI and collaborators, including Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources and Ecology, North Olympic Land Trust, Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, the Surfrider Foundation, and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe are working together to define the best community stewardship and long term management actions to protect the Dungeness feeder […]

Presentations on: Elwha Nearshore and Beach Restoration Opportunities, Fish and Birds of the Elwha Nearshore,  and Details of Upcoming Surveys 1:00pm-4:00pm Place Road Beach/West Elwha River Mouth Interpretive Walking Tour, Place Rd Beach Access (Please Carpool) Join Coastal Watershed Institute and Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society for a Field Discussion of Exciting Changes in Habitats affecting […]

On February 2 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that Washington State Department of Ecology and Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI) will receive $1,000,000 from the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program. This will fund a significant portion of the Beach Lake Acquisition and Restoration project. Located along the central Strait of Juan de Fuca, […]

Tuesday, 6 June  2017, 6:30pm at the Landing Mall conference room. Coastal Watershed Institute will host author Dr. Colin Levings as he discusses highlights from his new book ECOLOGY OF SALMONIDS IN ESTUARIES AROUND THE WORLD: ADAPTATIONS, HABITATS AND CONSERVATION.

Join the Coastal Watershed Institute and partners including Lafarge Holcim and Peninsula College for an update on the implementation of one of the largest nearshore ecosystem projects in the Salish Sea-the Twin Rivers  nearshore ecosystem restoration project. Details on the project are in the CWI blog here: Restarting a sediment engine along the Strait of Juan […]

JOIN CWI, PATAGONIA, AND FRIENDS MORE INFO... Dr. Thomas Quinn, Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, is a leading authority on salmon and trout. He is a principal researcher for the UW Alaska Salmon Program, where his research in Bristol Bay has helped to reveal many of the patterns […]

Patagonia's New Documentary ‘Blue Heart’ Highlights the Destruction of European Rivers The Balkan region—richly diverse in cultures, languages and history—is home to the last wild rivers on the European continent. The region truly is the Blue Heart of Europe. However, a hydropower gold rush is putting these rivers at risk: Hydropower is the only “renewable” energy […]

Four years after the world’s largest dam removal, the Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI) and partners continue critically important nearshore ecosystem restoration along the Elwha shoreline, including the Beach Lake Conservation Area. While our work restoring and managing the site is still very much underway, beginning the first of December, the site will be ready to […]