Tearing up (with joy)--the last of the Elwha dams has been blown out and this significant salmon river is flowing free once again.
Photos and story here:
http://seattletimes.com/...
With a big shot of dynamite, the last of Lake Mills drained through what's left of Glines Canyon Dam last week.
Today the river crashes over what's left of the dam in a waterfall. And while there is still a mixture of water and sediment that can't get past the remaining concrete yet, there are no more reservoirs on the Elwha. "She's all river now," Andy Ritchie, restoration hydrologist for the National Park Service said with a big smile.
Full restoration of the Elwha River ecosystem and its native anadromous fisheries was mandated by Congress in 1992 through the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act (Public Law 102-495) (NPS 1995). The Final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the National Park Service, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe found removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams as the best alternative action to restore the river's ecosystem and its native anadromous fish runs. Dam removal began in September 2011, and managers and scientists worked together to gather critical information about the Elwha ecosystem before, during, and after dam removal.
Sediment that has been backed up since 1926 is now scouring the river and will ultimately, with successive spring flows, scour it clean and clear for salmon once again.
Now that the reservoir is drained, the river has been pushing sediment trapped behind the dam -- piled up steadily since it was built in 1926 -- down toward what is left of the dam. By now it covers the whole valley floor, Ritchie estimates, in a layer as much as 50 feet thick. The amount and size of material the river is about to spit downriver as winter storms unleash is unlike anything we have seen on the Elwha so far during the dam removal project. Or probably unlike anything ever seen on the Elwha, Ritchie notes.
Hints of the Elwha's former majesty are exposed with the giant stumps of what was former forest.
With the reservoirs gone, the landscape they covered is exposed. The gigantic stumps that stud the riverbank show the grandeur of the forests that were cut before the reservoirs were filled. The stumps document just how gigantic the trees in the virgin forest along the Elwha truly were.
The work of the Klallum Tribe has been significant. Their reporting here:
http://www.elwha.org/...
The Klallam people lived in villages along the water sources, including the Elwha River for time immemorial. They would move to an area of the water based on the weather climates. Their territory was from the Hoko River to Hamma Hamma. Their natural territory is larger than any reservation currently is in Washington State.
Historically, the Elwha River had 10 runs of native anadramous salmon and trout, including coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), sockeye (O. nerka), pink (O. gorbuscha), chum (O.keta), steelhead (O. mykiss) and Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha).
Construction on the 105-foot Elwha Dam was completed in 1914. The structure created the Lake Aldwell reservoir, which was 2.5 miles long and has a surface area of 267 acres...
In 1925, Northwestern Power and Light Company began construction on a second hydroelectric dam on the Elwha River, several miles upriver of the Elwha Dam. The 210-foot, single-arch Glines Canyon Dam was completed in 1927, and a large reservoir was created behind it. Like the Elwha Dam, this dam was built without fish passage facilities.
Until September of 2011, salmon and steelhead only had access to the five miles of habitat below Elwha Dam and these diminished stocks are primarily maintained through hatchery production.
Cheers to the Tribe and to all who worked tirelessly and collectively to bring this about. Fully implemented during the Obama Administration, I will note here. Another accomplishment to add to Obama's magnificent list. No doubt he won't be taking credit. Rather provided the environment where he can say once again, "You did this."
Wild fish and free-flowing rivers, sustainable food, traditional tribal culture working to make things better in today's world. Cheers!