PORT ANGELES, WA — In an effort to restore the Elwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and its native salmon runs, a huge dam removal project is scheduled to begin in 2012, according to a March 5 Associated Press (AP) report on kgw.com.
The project consists of removing the 105-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River. According to the AP report, a project of this scope and size has not been attempted in the United States.
The removal of the two dams and the effort to restore a river from mountain to sea is being is hailed as the “granddaddy” of research opportunities.
Jerry Freilich, research coordinator for Olympic National Park, said in the AP report, “This is a very important research opportunity. It’s the one that’s going to be in every textbook for the next 50, 100 years. It’s the granddaddy of them all.”
According to the US Department of Interior’s National Park Service Web site, “Because of the structural differences of the two dams, different demolition methods will be used.”
Both hydroelectric dams were constructed early in the last century, with the Elwha Dam completed in 1914 and the Glines Canyon Dam in 1927.
To read the report, click here.
For related information, click here.
Every month in 
