Elwha Stories

Do you love the Elwha River? Removal of the Elwha dams is currently in process. In the meantime share your Elwha stories, photos, videos and more here.

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Video of the Elwha River restoration, from a drone's-eye-view.

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Elwha River restoration, from a drone's-eye view.

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Via Peninsula Daily News

In these images from the National Park Service webcam aimed at the site of the Elwha Dam, the 99-year-old dam is shown just before dismantling began in September 2011. At right is the site with a free-flowing Elwha River refinding the canyon that the dam plugged.

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Look! You can see the Elwha River emerging! This photo of the Glines Canyon Dam, now in the process of being removed, was taken by Tom Roorda.

If you haven't already, check out our documentary Undamming the Elwha.

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The Elwha Dam sites are going to offer whitewater enthusiasts the opportunity for some great boating!!!  (Photo:  Taken between Altaire Campground and Hwy 101)

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You heard the big news yesterday that king salmon have been observed up at Altair. Well, I would like to add to that that on a snorkel survey, juvenile chinook salmon were observed at the [Olympic National] Park boundary.

Mike McHenry, fisheries habitat biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe at the four-day Elwha River Science Symposium.

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The Kings Return! Chinook salmon seen above the Elwah River

“This has been an extremely exciting summer. First we see a renewal of a culture with the uncovering of the creation site of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, and now we see the renewal of the legendary chinook in Olympic National Park.”

click to article

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More on the return of king salmon to the Elwha River, as the dams come down.

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Rachel Hagaman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe places two king salmon on a bed of cedar boughs during a traditional ceremony to welcome the salmon back to the Elwha River. -- Photo by Arwyn Rice/Peninsula Daily News

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Our own team covered the dam removal and made a beautiful video of a Native American tribe spiritually connected to the river. Video available when the site launches on July 31.

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From Lynda Mapes' article, A wild steelhead, relocated to the Little River, a tributary of the Elwha, and tagged so it can be tracked. Notice the radio tag. John McMillan, photo

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Credit: Kevin P. Casey/Reuters. One of the two dams that are being removed on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park. From the New York Times, A River Newly Wild And Seriously Muddy.

But with the river’s restoration — or redemption, as some fervent supporters of the $325 million project put it — has come a mind-bogglingly large surge of sediment. More than 24 million cubic yards of silt, sand, clay and rock — enough to fill the area of a football field to a depth of 2.2 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey — accumulated behind the dams, much of it the detritus of glaciers.

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Something a little different for Waterfall Wednesday: This is a picture of a waterfall coming out of what’s left of Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River in the Olympic Peninsula. The dams went up in the beginning of the 20th century and provided power to most of the peninsula for many years. But they also blocked the salmon runs up the Elwha and covered the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s creation site in over 100 feet of water for more than a century. Over time, the Olympic Peninsula grew too big for the dams and began to draw their power from other sources. In mid 1990s, the dams provided only half the power needed to run one paper mill, and the salmon population had been decimated. So Congress voted to remove the dams. Experts say it could take 30 years before the river re-establishes something akin to its historic flow. The lower dam was completely removed last year, and the Glines Canyon Dam is being lowered blast by blast. This picture was taken on June 15, 2012. It probably looks different now, and it will not exist at all by next summer.

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A neat view of the Glines Canyon Dam (or what's left of it) on the Elwha River.

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The Glines Canyon Dam coming down on the Elwha River.

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Credit: John Gussman

From our Facebook page: Here's a cool photo from the Elwha, where dam removal is changing one lake to a river, once again.

[getdrunk-losepants]

One Shot Deal 5.10b

Elwha Wall, Washington

http://bruisedknees-oceanbreeze.tumblr.com/

http://bruisedknees-oceanbreeze.tumblr.com/

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Exploring the Elwha River Lakebeds with the Klahhane Club – April 2012

I hiked with the Klahhane Hiking Club again, but instead of climbing up to a mountain pass we hiked down to dry lakebeds on the Elwha River. The reason the lakebeds are dry is because, here, in Olympic National Park, the largest dam removal project in the country is almost complete. The 108-foot tall Elwha dam has been completely removed and most of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam is gone. The result — the almost century-old reservoirs that flooded huge sections of the Elwha River Valley have drained away. Last year, my wife Trisha and I hosted some of the “Celebrate Elwha!” festivities that culminated in the dam removal ceremony on September 17th. Now, I wanted to see what progress was like… More at exploreolympics.com Video Rating: 8/10

Click on the Thumbnail to watch the video Or visit http://threesomeparty.info/wife/exploring-the-elwha-river-lakebeds-with-the-klahhane-club-april-2012/