The dam project, which began in September of 2011, had been on
pause for the last year while water intake issues were dealt with at the Elwha
Water facilities site. While the
engineers were working at the facilities site, habitat restoration within the
drained reservoirs continued in full force. By the beginning of October dam removal
was ready to resume and a ten foot vertical notch was blasted from the Glines
Canyon dam. Additional notches in the
dam will be made in the next calendar year on case by case basis depending on
current flows and reservoir levels and will continue until the sediments settle
appropriately. The National Park has some great details about the process here.
The dam removal project is projected to be completed in 2014
but habitat restoration efforts will continue for the next five years. During
this time biologists and researchers will continue to study the river as it
changes and we look forward to seeing salmon populations approach 400,000 once again.
To learn even more about this incredible project check out
the Burke Museum’s newest exhibit based on The Mountaineers book Elwha: A River
Reborn.
"Elwha: A River Reborn takes you to the Northwest's legendary Elwha River Valley to discover the people, places, and history behind a remarkable local story--and the largest dam removal project ever undertaken."
The exhibit goes through March 9, 2014. More details about the Burke exhibit can be found here.
Also check out the awesome videos of the project put together by Olympic National Park http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/restorationoftheelwha.htm
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