Elwha River, WA
Preparing for Dam Removal on the Elwha River
On June 1, the hydropower generators at the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams in Washington State were powered down. Dam removal on the Elwha River in the Olympic Peninsula will begin this September after a decades-long battle to restore the Elwha and its famous salmon runs. Removing these two dams will open up over 70 miles of salmon and trout habitat that have been suppressed for almost 100 years. Scientists predict that native salmon and steelhead populations will rebound from their current estimates of several thousand per year to over 300,000 in a matter of decades.