Thursday, September 15, 2011

Serious dam removal-the Elwha River

I've been waiting for this; it seems like it's taken forever. But now the Elwha River dams are coming down. See the big chunk missing from Glines Canyon dam on the Elwha River.

If you're really interested, you can follow the 3 year restoration project with the webcams.

Why is this a big deal? Washington's Elwha River once hosted miraculous salmon runs, with fish up to 100 pounds. But two big dams blocked the river near it's mouth almost a century ago, so the salmon fizzled out despite pristine habitat. Ironically this is one place where salmon could still be thriving in the lower 48. Most of the Elwha River watershed is pristine and protected in Olympic National Park.

It's a good day for river restoration and fish conservation.

1 comment:

MADNESS358 said...

Not too sure wether the salmon will ever come back to tell you the truth. If close to a century was the timeline of it being blocked for a salmon run then generations of salmon would have lost its' instinct to come back to such a place naturally unless man can do something about it eg: controlled releases of salmon into the stream. One can only hope.