Elwha River

Elwha is a laboratory for students & researchers

2006-02-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

High school students are studying the Elwha ecosystem, and will monitor the impacts of the dam removal, reports the Bainbridge Island Review...

(Photo courtesy Bainbridge Island Review)

$20 million for Elwha dam removal

2006-02-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

The Bush admistration's budget, released this week, contains $20 million for the removal of the Elwha River's dams.

American Rivers called the Elwha funding a bright spot in a budget that is a "mixed bag" for rivers.

Read more

Removal of Elwha dams edges closer

2006-02-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

The time to begin scientific research on the Elwha is now, says Olympic National Park's Jerry Freilich.

"Critical scientific research in a host of areas needs to be conducted now in order to study ecological changes expected after the historic dams' removal."

Read more in the Sequim Gazette

Oregon's Sandy River dams coming down in 2007

2006-01-23T09:57:00.000-08:00

The AP's Jeff Barnard reports on the two dams that will be removed to restore Oregon's Sandy River, between 2007 to 2008.

Dams exacerbate flood threat

2006-01-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

For decades, the two dams on the Elwha River have held back sand and sediment needed to replenish the beaches at the river's mouth. Without a regular influx of sediment, the beaches have been eroding putting waterfront residents at risk of flooding.

With western Washington now in its 24th consecutive day of rain, storm damage and flooding are a concern.

But as this article from the Peninsula Daily News (1-6-06) states:

"Even if federal authorities come through with flood-control devices, they'd only slow down the Strait's incursion into the reservation. Only removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the river will allow it to replenish the beach and perhaps rebuild Angeles Point."

A boom in river restoration

2006-01-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

A study by a group of freshwater ecologists published in the April 2005 issue of the journal Science found that river restoration is on the rise nationwide. Specifically --

At least $14 to 15 billion has been invested in river restoration projects
More than 37,000 river restoration projects have been undertaken since 1990
The Pacific Northwest, California, and the Chesapeake Bay watershed are hotspots for river restoration

"River restoration is evolving from an art into a science," said Duke University's Dr. Emily Bernhardt.

"It's no mystery why river restoration is booming," said Andrew Fahlund of American Rivers. "Rivers in good condition more readily meet the needs of the surrounding community than polluted and degraded rivers."

Elwha Dam and Lake Aldwell

2005-12-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Photo: Ross Freeman

Elwha River, before Elwha Dam

2005-12-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Photo: Olympic National Park archives

Glines Canyon, after

2005-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

Photo: Scott Church

Glines Canyon, before

2005-12-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Photo: Olympic National Park archives

Other dam removals in the news

2005-12-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

Montana's Blackfoot River is free-flowing, now that Bonner Dam has been removed

North Carolina's Deep River will be restored when the Carbonton Dam comes down in Jan '06

Efforts to remove Savage Rapids Dam from Oregon's Rogue River are moving forward

Elwha story on NPR, 11-30-05

2005-12-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

NPR featured a story on the Elwha restoration effort on November 30, 2005

Listen to the story

All in all, the story mentioned more of the downsides of dam removal as opposed to the many benefits -- to people, the river, the salmon, and the ecosystem.

On the issue of lost hydropower production, the Elwha dams provide a very small amount of power (about 28 megawatts) and the sole beneficiary of this power is a single mill in Port Angeles. Further, the regional power grid will easily make up for that lost power once the dams come down. As for the sediment in the reservoirs, the Park Service has a plan in place to manage the sediment and protect the salmon.

Visit American Rivers to learn about the benefits of restoring the Elwha River.

Who gets the land?

2004-08-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

When the reservoir known as Lake Aldwell is drained following the removal of the 112-foot Elwha Dam, who will own the new riverside land?

Today's story in the Peninsula Daily News explores the options, and notes that the public will certainly get a say in the decision.

Read the story

New book of Elwha River photos

2004-08-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

"Away out over everything: the Olympic Peninsula and the Elwha River" will be available in October. The book's photographs are by Mary Peck. Charles Wilkinson contributes an essay.

"Images and text afford us glimpses of the primeval power that still lingers in this wild place. Peck’s meditations on the roadless ocean beaches, the emerald river valleys with their old growth temperate rain forests, and the denuded hillsides urge the reader to acknowledge the less tangible values we must consider in managing our natural resources."

-- From the book's description by Stanford University Press (PDF)

Dam!

2004-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Get the latest on dam removal in the United States -- "60 dams in 15 states to be removed in 2004" (7-21-04 press release from American Rivers)

Read "Damning the Dams" from the July/August 2000 issue of E Magazine.

Read "Salvation for the Dammed" from the March 2000 issue of Sierra Magazine.

Two good quotes about dams...

"When I visit a dam, I often find a plaque honoring by name the engineer, government leader, contracting firm and the height, size, date, volume of water held or diverted, power generated, flood capacity measurements. And that's fine. But I don't find a plaque with the names of any species hurt, the names of any people displaced, the cost to taxpayers, the price of maintenance or decommissioning, or why this option was chosen over, say, windmills, solar panels, natural gas, groundwater pumping, demand management or some decentralized tools."

-- A member of the World Commission on Dams

"The public must retain control of the great waterways. It is essential that any permit to obstruct them for reasons and on conditions that seem good at the moment should be subject to revision when changed conditions demand."

-- President Teddy Roosevelt, 1908

Bringing back the salmon

2004-08-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Before Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam blocked the river coho, pink, chum, sockeye, spring and summer/fall chinook salmon returned by the hundreds of thousands. Individual chinook sometimes weighed over 100 pounds. I've read that the salmon were so big that people could wear their skins as ceremonial robes.

Since the early 1900's the dams have prevented salmon from reaching roughly 70 miles of upstream habitat in the Elwha River and its tributaries. The dams have also inundated 684 acres of riverside habitat -- important for wildlife like deer and Roosevelt elk -- beneath the reservoirs of Lake Mills and Lake Aldwell.

Today, only about 4,000 salmon spawn in the five miles of available river below the dams. Other wildlife, like the bald eagle, black bear, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, weasel, mink and river otter are suffering from the lack of nutrient-rich salmon carcasses.

Removing the two dams on the Elwha will be about salmon, and much more than salmon -- it will be restoration of an ecosystem on a grand scale.

Elwha dam removal gets final go-ahead

2004-08-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today the Seattle Times is running a front page story with great color photos, announcing the signing of the agreement to allow the $182 million dam removal project to move forward.

Read the story

Removal of the two dams will begin in 2008 -- between now and then, work must be completed on a water treatment plant for the town of Port Angeles, and a sewer system, flood protection levee, and fish hatchery for the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation.

When the dams are finally out, salmon will be able to return to their upstream spawning grounds in Olympic National Park for the first time in 100 years.