Co-Creator
For millennia, the Elwha River ran wild, connecting mountains and seas in a thriving ecosystem. The river proved to be an ideal habitat for anadromous (sea-run) fish, with eleven varieties of salmon and trout spawning in its waters. These fish thrived in the cold, clear waters of the Elwha River and historically served as an important food source for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe living along its banks.
The growth of the logging industry in the region brought rapid change to the Olympic Peninsula and specifically to the Elwha River with the construction of two dams. The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams were built in the early 1900s, generating hydropower to supply electricity for the emerging town of Port Angeles and fueling regional growth on the Peninsula. However, construction of the dams blocked the migration of salmon upstream, disrupted the flow of sediment downstream, and flooded the historic homelands and cultural sites of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
For over a century, the web of ecological and cultural connections in the Elwha Valley were broken. Then in 1992, Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, authorizing dam removal to restore the altered ecosystem and the native anadromous fisheries therein. After two decades of planning, the largest dam removal in U.S. history began on September 17, 2011. Six months later the Elwha Dam was gone, followed by the Glines Canyon Dam in 2014. Today, the Elwha River once again flows freely from its headwaters in the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The Elwha River is transitioning from its dam-bound era to a river wild and free. The river was significantly altered by the dams, and biologists predict that it will take at least a generation — if not more — to recover. Scientists are continuously watching, measuring, monitoring and evaluating changes in an effort to better understand the mechanisms of river evolution. It is rare to get to watch a river reborn, and what we learn from the Elwha River Restoration Project will help to inform future dam removal projects and restoration strategies.
(Source: National Park Service)
