PORT ANGELES, Wash. -the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State once were full of legendary salmon before two large concrete dams built nearly a century ago close access to upstream habitat for fish, decreased their journeys and changed the ecosystem.
June 1, almost two decades after that Congress called for a full restoration of the river and its fish tracks, federal workers will disable the generators at the power plant dam in 1913 and put in motion the largest dam removal project in the history of the United States.
Contractors will begin to dismantle the dams of this fall, a project of 324.7 million that will take approximately three years and finally enable the Elwha 45 miles River to run freely as the course of the Olympic Mountains through old-growth forests in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
"We will let the River be wild again," said Amy Kober, a spokesman for the advocacy group American Rivers. "Generators can extinguish, but the River is subject to power up to."
105 Elwha dam feet came also on the line in 1913, followed by 14 years later by the 210 Glines Canyon Dam - walking eight kilometres upstream. For years, they provided electricity to a local pulp and stationery and the growing city of Port Angeles, wash., about 80 miles west of Seattle. Electricity from dams - enough to power about 1 700 homes - currently feeds regional power grid.
A law of the requested State fish passage facilities Washington, but none has been built. If all five native species of Pacific salmon and other anadromous fish arriving at maturity in the ocean and return to the rivers to spawn were confined to the lower five miles of the River. A hatchery was built, but only until 1922.
Fish are particularly important for the members of the lower Elwha Klallam tribe, whose ancestors occupied the Valley of the Elwha for future generations, and whose members recall the stories of 100-pound salmon so abundant Chinook you could cross the River on their backs.
"We have never been happy that salmon in the River have been cut," said Robert Elofson, Director of Elwha River restoration for the tribe, who, with environmental groups fought in the 1980s to bring down the dam. Land of the tribe now includes about 1,000 acres on and near the Elwha River. "It is difficult to have a pride when your main river of your tribe was blocked and the salmon runs almost totally destroyed."
In 1910, the Elwha has produced approximately 390 000 salmon and trout anadromous, including coho salmon, pink, red salmon, and steelhead trout and chinook salmon. The number of species of wild native anadromous fish is reduced to about 3,000 in 2005.
Brenda Francis, a spokesman for the tribal and Member, said his mother as a girl has recalled the meetings where tribal members to discuss dismantling dams. "The people never wanted the dams to go up in the first place," said.
Because most of the River lies within protected National Park of the Olympic Games, the scientists say that the Elwha River restoration project also presents a unique opportunity to study how a river covers dam-free once. Researchers will study how back to the River, how their return will benefit wildlife such as bears and eagles, and how the estuary will be reshaped when sediments trapped behind dams in salmon is out.
Most yards 24 million cubes of sediments occur behind dams in Mills Lake and Aldwell Lake, enough to fill a two kilometres high football stadium, said David Reynolds, a spokesman for the Olympic National Park. The National Park Service and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe lead the project for the restoration of the River.
When the tanks are drain, 800 acres of arid land will be exposed. New greenhouse Park, volunteers and botanists of the Park are occupied transplanting and repotting salal, red currants, ocean spray and other plants to fill the exposed Earth. Crews have collected seeds, cones and the cuttings along the River since 2002.
The first 15,000 plants will be available this fall. In all plants more than 400 000 will serve to restore a forest ecosystem, prevent erosion and exotic species. "It is a great experience for other dam emissions," said Jill Zarzeczny, biological technician with the Elwha revegetation project.
On a recent day at the plant, the dams were running maximum of generations, fed by glaciers and weather patterns that make it a rich resource of water, said Kevin Yancy, foreman of the plant. He worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates dams since the Federal Government purchased their in 2000.
From June, workers will take electrical load off the coast of the generator, de-energize the lines coming into the plant, close the headgates and remove any dangerous energy entrepreneurs can start their work later this fall, said Yancy.
In the control room, original gauges, switches and other instruments are still in use, with more modern facilities, to measure the level of water reservoirs and the amount of energy produced. A window in the room offers a view of the glacial river Milky below where Yancy said that he will often see hundreds of fish jumping as they hit the walls of the Elwha dam.
"They want to go upstream," Yancy said. "Being a guy hydro that none of us want to see removed from power plants, but for this river and this story, it is time.
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Online:
The Elwha River restoration: http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/elwha-ecosystem-restoration.htm
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