Elwha is free running now

Pictures and more of the article in the link

http://seattletimes.com/html/fieldnotes/..._100_years.html

She's all river now": No more reservoirs on the Elwha

Posted by Lynda V. Mapes


With a big shot of dynamite, the last of Lake Mills drained through what's left of Glines Canyon Dam last week. There's still about 50 feet of the Glines Canyon Dam standing. But the last of the once 210-foot-tall structure will be gone by May.

Today the river crashes over what's left of the dam in a waterfall. And while there is still a mixture of water and sediment that can't get past the remaining concrete yet, there are no more reservoirs on the Elwha. "She's all river now," Andy Ritchie, restoration hydrologist for the National Park Service said with a big smile.

Lake Aldwell, the former reservoir above Elwha Dam, disappeared last March, along with that dam.

The pace and scope of change has been breathtaking, as this amazing pairing of aerial photos by photographer John Gussman shows. Gussman is making a documentary film about the Elwha. He got started before dam removal began, and his comprehensive documentation of the river, the dams, and the watershed as the world's largest dam removal ever unfolds is invaluable......

Once that last piece of concrete is gone we could use a nice pineapple express to create a rain on snow event in the watershed and really clean her out.

Hell of a stump there.

Wow. That stump is impressive. The tree that once stood there was likely even more impressive.

It's gonna be awhile before the sediment is cleaned out.

However, when looking at the former Glines Canyon dam site, I couldn't help but think "That's a really great spot for a dam". Narrow canyon slots like that are almost extinct in this country. They're all underwater.........

to bad they were netting it still the other week.

Yeah, some newspaper needs to call out the Elwah tribe for netting when, at least as far as I understood it, there was to be no netting for 5 years.

Let her flow free!

Full slideshow of Gussman's images here

http://www.elwhafilm.com/LakeMillsIsDead/

I've been watching this project since 1968......the tear down was talked about back then but for reasons only known to "others", the "wheels of of the tear down project" moved ever so slow.

Time tells all......just sorry, I probably won't be able to see/enjoy/ the return of salmon, steelhead and searun cutthoat.

Gillnet the mouth of the Elwha? Does that sound like the right thing to do?

It's always the right thing to them when money is involved

It will be interesting watching the long term silt removal/deposit unfold.

One of the Oregon rivers that had its dam removed cleared the silt about 10 times as fast as had been predicted.

They're probably netting debris to prevent it from going into the Ocean.

RUFKM.....They are netting the Elwha???? For real????

I saw them personally about a month ago and have heard others reporting that they have saw them as well

Mebbe they were gathering broodstock for the hatchery?

Either way...I'd rather see them head up the river.

Fish on...

Todd

Looks like the silt and sediment should be moving downstream....will be interesting to see if the plantings done to stabilize the banks will hold....


http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12045500&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065

That Oregon River was the Sandy River, just outside Portland.

When Marmot Dam on the Sandy River was removed the sediment whad entirely filled in the reservoir. In fact, at the lip of the dam, the reservoir was only about 6 inches deep, although the dam was 40 feet high. When the dam was removed, the sediment moved downstream VERY quickly. Within two years, all the sediment had completely disappeared. It had become re-distributed throughout the river. You can't tell it was even there.

My guess is that something similar will happen on the Elwha. The vegetative re-plantings will stabilize most of the sediment, while the remainder of the material will get deposited off shore. The Elwha River will chew it up and spit it out very quickly. It will eventually end up on Ediz Hook and Dungeness Spit, where it belongs.......

This small muddy pool above the foot of the concrete remnants at Glines is all that's left of Lake Mills. Pretty f'n cool if you ask me.

Hmmm.....not exactly what I would say is all river yet.....fish can't get over what I'm looking at

there were some fish caught and transferred above though



and yeah, i doubt they were getting fish for brood stocking... guts on the ground suggest otherwise.

Checked it out on Sunday coming back from the Duc, looks pretty frickin awesome. I too am definitely looking forward to one day being able to wet a line for the amazing Wild Fish of the Elwah.

Cheers, Todd

[img]http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/p...580&title=1[/img]

hard to imagine a fish traveling up that, Doc.

looks like the Chehalis after the last hard rain

Beach front property

From the personal observations I have made once the river gets silted up its takes a good 2 months of little to no rain to get it to start clearing. The heavy rains we had in Sept silted it right back up. Hope we get some record rains this winter and spring to help blow all that junk down and out.

Agreed. What we need is huge rain on snow event. Get a couple feet of snow at sea level and then clean of the slopes up to about 3,000' in one afternoon.

This will take years for us to realize the level of success. I only wish they'd truly leave the river/fish be and not fish it at all (anyone), not introduce any outside influences (Chambers, hatchery, etc.) and let nature take it's course. She's pretty crafty if you let her be.

The fisheries that will do the most damage to the recovery of Chinook and coho are the marine mixed stock hook and line fisheries in BC, AK, and the coast.

If recovery of the wild fish was truly the goal then those would be the eliminated fisheries.

As usual, Carcassman is correct. The folks that will get hurt by a closure of the fishery will be the Elwha Tribe, and the local recreational anglers. Those folks who harvest in SE AK, along the BC coast, and in places like Sieku and the Strait will continue to take fish that will return to the Elwha.

In fact, it's been my view that these offshore fisheries will be the reason that really big Chinook salmon will never return to the Elwha, regardless of the lack of dams. It's very likely the fishing pressure in the near shore areas (SE AK, BC, and WA) is high enough such that Chinook salmon will never live long enough to get to 80+lbs. Nobody C&R's a 50lb Chinook in the ocean hoping it will grow to 80lbs. Those 50lbers get bonked.

Indeed, that is what has really changed in the years since the Elwha dams were constructed. When those dams went in (100+ years ago), there was no high seas fishery. All fishing was done close to shore. Once those juvenile salmon cleared the near shore areas, they had all the forage and all the time they needed to grow to whatever size they wanted. Now, they have neither unlimited time nor forage. Millions of pounds of forage (herring, smelt, anchovy) is scooped up by purse sieners. And commercial and recreational anglers ply the waters of their feeding grounds 24/7, all summer long. The longer those fish stay on the feeding grounds, the more likely it is they will get bonked.

But don't get me wrong. I'm really glad to see the Elwha dams removed. Indeed it is a reason for hopeful optimisum and a sense of renewal. However, I don't believe we will ever see really large Chinook again. Not in the Elwha and not in the Columbia. And the reasons have nothing to do with dams.

Tonight at 7:30 on channel 9, Quest show will have a little footage or program on this. That's the direct TV PBS channel (KCTS).

Amen

I agree with Carcassman and coho angler.

The most recent data that I have seen (2002 to 2006) showed that the overall exploitation rate on Elwha Chinook was approximately 35% of which more than 85% were caught in Alaskan and BC waters.

Curt

The link that Doc posted, looks very similar to the Toutle River, after Mt. St. Helens blew in May of 1980.

The Toutle river ran gray colored for many years afterward, not sure its even the color it was before the eruption.

Time tells all!!!!!

And long before the Toutle cleared up the wild steelhead returned...don't be too worried about the dirty water, the fish will be able to make do long before it looks like good fishing water ;-)

Fish on...

Todd

returning and successfully reproducing are two different matters

That's what the wild steelhead did, along with salmon and trout, too.

Fish on...

Todd

Shouldn't the tributaries and all the water above where the former upper dam provide plenty of good spawning habitat?

Yes. All the tribs should be fine, the mainstem above Mills should be pretty good.

All they will need is spawners in good numbers.

Great little video showing how quickly new habitat is colonized... FYI this was shot in September.

http://vimeo.com/75830580

Would be really important that the trible competely buy in to the recovery of this "new river system".

The video's show what can happen, when Dam's are removed.

Speaking of colonization/re-colonization of the Elwha I wonder given the extraordinary pink returns to the Fraser and Puget Sound this year whether some of them found their way to the Elwha. That would truly be the natural colonization process in action.

BTW -
The pre-harvest Fraser/Puget Sound (Salish sea?) pink run may have exceeded 25 to 30 million fish.

Curt

Smalma,

There were a fair number of pinks that were congregating in the Glines Canyon stretch. In past summers prior to dam removal, there would be small schools as well.

Have seen some neat underwater shots of Elwha pinks surrounded by little O. mykiss looking for some eats.

Not likely to happen. Think these guys would be worth it?

Thanks Doc, but those really big Chinook salmon are gone forever. I presume you read my post on this thread. If not, here's my view:

"The folks that will get hurt by a closure of the fishery will be the Elwha Tribe, and the local recreational anglers. Those folks who harvest in SE AK, along the BC coast, and in places like Sieku and the Strait will continue to take fish that will return to the Elwha.

In fact, it's been my view that these offshore fisheries will be the reason that really big Chinook salmon will never return to the Elwha, regardless of the lack of dams. It's very likely the fishing pressure in the near shore areas (SE AK, BC, and WA) is high enough such that Chinook salmon will never live long enough to get to 80+lbs. Nobody C&R's a 50lb Chinook in the ocean hoping it will grow to 80lbs. Those 50lbers get bonked.

Indeed, that is what has really changed in the years since the Elwha dams were constructed. When those dams went in (100+ years ago), there was no high seas fishery. All fishing was done close to shore. Once those juvenile salmon cleared the near shore areas, they had all the forage and all the time they needed to grow to whatever size they wanted. Now, they have neither unlimited time nor forage. Millions of pounds of forage (herring, smelt, anchovy) is scooped up by purse sieners. And commercial and recreational anglers ply the waters of their feeding grounds 24/7, all summer long. The longer those fish stay on the feeding grounds, the more likely it is they will get bonked.

But don't get me wrong. I'm really glad to see the Elwha dams removed. Indeed it is a reason for hopeful optimisum and a sense of renewal. However, I don't believe we will ever see really large Chinook again. Not in the Elwha and not in the Columbia. And the reasons have nothing to do with dams."

I hope I'm wrong, but only time will tell.

Almost done!

http://www.elwhafilm.com/bang/

cool, but they cut the filming off too soon....I wanted to see the river flow after the blast

Hard to find the line in that mess. Far right? Rig to flip.

Wow, Doc! Great photo's. Thanks!

I wonder, is this canyon the area known as "Gobblin's Gate" back in the day? I've read that that was one whoop-ass cataract, pre-dam, that likely acted as a natural selector for the out-sized kings the river used to be famous for.

Nope, Goblin's Gate is above the former Lake Mills. This is the canyon just above the Altair Campground.

Getting charges ready for what looks like could be the FINAL blast...

A few more blasts to go. Completion less than 3 months away.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/articl...project-as-work

Lookin' good.... pretty much looks like she's been blasted down to grade this morning.

Looks like the boom happened late yesterday or early today. Going through the webcam slideshow you can see that outside corner piece there when it got dark last night and gone at first light today.

edit: ha, looks like we both saw it at the same time Doc.

Scott