Salmon Return to Washington’s Elwha River for the First Time in 102 Years

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/09/17/salmon-return-elwha-river-first-time-102-years

The largest dam removal in the U.S. is already paying off in the return of salmon, bears, and other wildlife.

September 17, 2014 By Zachary Slobig

Editor, reporter, and radio producer Zachary Slobig has covered coastal issues for Outside, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and many others.

For 102 years, native salmon bumped up against massive concrete hydroelectric dams on Washington state’s Elwha River, stubbornly persisting in their primitive urge to swim upstream and lay their eggs. Last week, that persistence paid off.

Habitat managers spotted Chinook salmon and bull trout in the upper reaches of that river—above the former locations of demolished 108-foot and 210-foot dams that long blocked their path to the spawning ground to which they are hardwired to return.

The arrival of these fish is being celebrated as a promising sign for the return of the river to a fully functioning ecosystem, flowing freely from its source in the Olympic Mountains all the way to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Mel Elofson, a habitat biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, was the first to spot the healthy female Chinook in the riverbank above the Glines Canyon Dam last week.

FULL story at link.

[niyad]

1. k and r

[Generic Brad]

2. Those are some damned old salmon

I would not want to eat 102 year old salmon. No, thank you.

[Omaha Steve]

14. The bears don't seem to mind

[freshwest]

3. The tribes have been a slow, but steady force in this. Hope for the future.

[KT2000]

16. the tribes have been

the saving grace of the entire Olympic Peninsula! Every other political entity here seems hell-bent on bringing forth the apocalypse.

[ReRe]

4. K&R

This is wonderful news. Thanks for bringing it to us, Omaha Steve.

[Zorra]

5. Great news! Thanks. nt

[sheshe2]

6. Kick!

[daschess1987]

7. Great news!

Thanks, Omaha Steve. I needed to hear something positive today, and that definitely put a smile on my face.

[NBachers]

8. Yup, sunshine in my heart

[wheniwasincongress]

9. It's the end of times!!!1

[SheilaT]

10. Oh, my. How heartening.

It is quite amazing and gratifying to learn how much and how well nature can recover from the horrors humans inflict. I can remember all to well stories about Lake Erie being essentially dead, but then the Clean Water Act was passed and things improved enormously.

There is hope.

[badtoworse]

11. Didn't the dam have fish ladders?

Last edited Thu Sep 18, 2014, 08:54 AM - Edit history (1)

The FERC normally would have required them to be installed in order to relicense the dam.

ETA: Did a little research. The dams did not have fish ladders and relicensing them would have required their installation (expensive). Removing these dams is the best possible outcome. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the river to return to something resembling its former state and how quickly the numbers of returning salmon increase. The fishery should be carefully managed to restore the numbers of fish as quickly as possible.

[Bandit]

12. Getting up the rivers wasn't the problem

The problem was all the fry going down river were channeled into the turbines.

[badtoworse]

13. There are ways to reduce fry mortality from the turbines.

Last year, I looked at some dams on the Lower Penobscot in Maine and they use bypasses around the turbines to allow the fry to pass. The bypass entrance has a stronger current than the river flow to the turbines and the fry are attracted to that.

I do not believe the Elwha River dams had fish ladders so there wouldn't be any fry upstream of the dams - the adult salmon couldn't get there.

Here's a link to an article that details some of the history of those dams.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20110912/news/309129994/the-elwha-dams-part-2-historical-series-8212-as-dams-age

[raouldukelives]

15. So awesome! K&R! nt

[Enthusiast]

17. Kicked and recommended!

The earth give us gifts but we find a way to fuck things up.

[littlemissmartypants]

18. Thanks for your post, Omaha Steve. nt

[jmondine]

19. Now if we can just do the same at Hetch Hetchy!

[rhett o rick]

20. What a great accomplishment to remove those damns. See the video.

Thanks for posting.

[hopemountain]

21. observing and experiencing full on salmon runs

is an experience that i hope every human being will have the opportunity to witness. the power and ofull on salmon or steelhead runs is unforgettable.

even now, in reading this headline - i am transported back to the thrill & awe of my own experience.

go, salmon, go!

[G_j]

22. K&R!

thank you for sharing this.

[sulphurdunn]

23. Used to live on

Lake Sutherland and in Sequim. Did a lot of fishing below the dam. Glad it's gone and the Kings are back.

[AtomicKitten]

24. go fish

[Hestia]

25. PBS has a program (Nature maybe?) that shows how the entire Pacific

and Rocky Mountain areas depend on salmon - bears eat, bears poo, poo nurtures trees, etc., helping out the entire ecosystem. All of that area depend on salmon runs.

[uppityperson]

26. K&r and as Alaskan Ray Troll would say....