Elwha River Dam Removal Project Resumes

The Elwha River dam removal project, now entering its third year, resumed last month after nearly a year’s hiatus. It is to be completed in 2014. Early in the second year of dam removal, issues associated with the water intake structure at the Elwha Water Facilities arose. Continued dam removal work was temporarily put on hold to give engineers, treatment plant operators and construction crews time to correct these issues. But restoration of the river and ecosystem continued during that period, as vegetation crews sowed seeds and planted saplings in the two drained reservoirs, all five species of Pacific salmon, as well as steelhead, returned to the Elwha River, sediment eroded, and new habitats formed. In August and early September, shortly before the anniversary of the beginning of dam removal, the largest run of Chinook salmon since 1992 was recorded in the Elwha River.

On October 5th, a ten foot vertical notch was blasted from Glines Canyon Dam, resuming the process of dam removal. October's notch is the only one planned for this calendar year, due to the November – December fish window, and completing this notch before winter high flows began was critical to the project's overall timing and sediment management goals. The restarting of dam removal was not the only good news this fall. A survey of the Elwha River revealed Chinook returned to the Elwha River in record numbers this year and readily colonized the newly accessible habitats below Glines Canyon Dam.

When dam removal is completed, Elwha River salmon and steelhead will once again have access to over 70 miles of unaltered river and pristine spawning habitat. Their populations are expected to grow to nearly 400,000.

With dam removal scheduled to be complete in 2014, the Elwha River Restoration management team is preparing for Phase V of the project, continuing restoration. Over the next five years, 350,000 native seedlings and 5,000 pounds of seeds will be planted at the sites of the former dams and reservoirs, sediment will continue to erode, deposit, and form new habitats, and biologists and researchers will continue to monitor and study the Elwha River ecosystem, its plant and animal communities, and its response to this unprecedented project. Dam removal is just the beginning of Elwha River Restoration.