Port Angeles, WA Temp 78Sep 4, 2011
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Bob and Darby at the end of the trail overlooking the dam
Water flowing down the western spillway while the dam is removed.
Out on the spit
There is a project that started in the courts back in the 1980's when there was a legal challenge to dam licensing of two dams that were built in the early 1900's. By 1992, Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act authorizing the removal of the dams.
The road to the Glines Canyon Dam is already closed to auto traffic as the work to remove the dam has already begun. Engineers plan to draw down the lake and progressively notch and lower the dam.
At the Elwha Dam (which we could still drive to), the river is being redirected down the western spillway while the dam is removed.
When the dams were built, despite state law requiring fish passage facilities, none were built. One of the main reasons for the project is to restore the salmon to this area.
To learn more about this restoration you can go to: http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/elwha-ecosystem-restoration.htm
Later we drove into Port Angeles out onto the spit - a thin finger of land running out into the water known as Ediz Hook. There were lots of people there - having their lunch, fishing, kids playing on the shore, just relaxing and enjoying the sun.
