Vascular plant diversity and associated environmental variables along the Elwha River, Washington, 2005-2017

The data release presents observations of riparian vegetation, topography, soil characteristics, and ground cover in three river segments located above, below, and between the former Glines Canyon and Elwha Dams on the Elwha River, near Port Angeles, WA (river kilometers 2.5 to 31) to assess effects of dam removal on riparian vegetation. Vegetation data were collected before dam removal in 2005 and 2010, and after dam removal in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Vegetation data were collected from 100 square meter plots located on 15 cross-river transects spanning all riparian landforms. Soil samples collected in 2017 were analyzed for soil nutrients and texture. Topographic surveys were conducted to measure the elevation of vegetation plots above the river channel, the distance from vegetation plots to the channel, and the change in plot elevation over time (sediment deposition). Complete methods are described in Brown et al. (in review) and in the Process Step section of the associated metadata. The data release includes six Comma Separated Values files (.csv).