Restoration of the Elwha River
It has been supported by a major collaboration among the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, environmental organizations, and federal and state agencies.
[6] The salmon runs provided a valuable food source for many animals, such as black bear, coyotes, gray wolves, bald eagles, raccoons, and dozens of others.
In addition, salmon carcasses littered stream banks during prime fall and spring spawning, providing food for scavengers and decaying and enriching the soil.
In the Elwha River basin, salmon once contributed over 300 tons of phosphorus and nitrogen every year, via decaying carcasses and the scat of predators and scavengers.
"[9] The national park, tasked with preserving natural ecosystems, had a man-made system within its boundaries that was known to disrupt major portions of the ecology.
[7] With the Glines Canyon Dam blocking sediment from reaching the Strait of Juan de Fuca for more than 80 years, most of it had been accumulating in Lake Mills.
[10] However, since the sediment had been accumulating in Lake Mills, wave action and currents had eroded the beaches until they became little more than rocky or pebbly slopes.
[5] The mouth of the river had eroded by several acres over the years, shrinking the size of the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation and eliminating their once abundant clam beds.
Ediz Hook has eroded to the point that rip-rap has to be placed on the feature to protect Port Angeles harbor from the effects of the wave action.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers spends approximately $100,000 annually to control erosion of Ediz Hook and estimates the Elwha River contributed between 50,000 and 80,000 cubic yards of sediment per year before the dams were built.
[10] The combined power output the dams generated was approximately 19 mega-watt hours annually, a figure roughly equivalent to 38% of the electricity necessary to operate the Nippon Paper mill in Port Angeles.
By the 1980s twelve conservation groups opposed the relicensing process, including Olympic Park Associates, Seattle Audubon Society, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and American Rivers.
The Final Programmatic EIS (environmental impact statement), released in June 1995, concluded that the only way to fully restore the river was to remove both dams.
The Final Implementation EIS, released in November 1996, concluded that sediment that had accumulated in the two reservoirs should be allowed to erode and disperse naturally downstream.
[2] The draining of the reservoir has revealed a ceremonial creation ground of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe; it had been submerged since the early 20th century.
The sudden increase of sediment supply caused bed aggradation of ~1 meter, resulting in a change of channel morphology from pool-riffle to braided, and decreased the slope of the lowermost river.
[12] The dams had virtually eliminated bed-material sediment supply to the river downstream, forming large deltas upstream of each reservoir.
These geomorphic alterations have important ecological implications, affecting aquatic habitat structure, benthic fauna, salmonid spawning and rearing potential, and riparian vegetation.
[16] Coho Salmon after a century long absence is reproducing and rearing in the section that was occupied by the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams.
Recolonization efforts through relocation of adults to the Little River and Indian Creek tributaries from hatcheries has established levels of spawning and juvenile production comparable to other Coho Salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.
[17] The partnership includes the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, in addition to local and state governments and outside public interest groups.
The restoration partnership has supported Indigenous survival and collective continuance; however, many desired goals of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe have not been achieved.
