Washington State. The Elwha Dam, the first to be constructed (1910), created the Lake Aldwell reservoir 4.9 miles from the mouth of the Elwha river [fig. 1]. Respectively, 8.5 miles upstream, Lake Mills is contained by the Glines Canyon Dam (1926). Despite their continued success as a viable resource for Bonneville Power Administration (Meyer n. pag.), the existence and utilization of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams causes detrimental besetment for the ecosystem and native anadromous fish populations of the Elwha River basin (U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1995, n. pag.). Thus, per restitution stipulations, the 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act (the Elwha Act) authorized the Secretary of the Interior to appropriate the two dams (e.g., Winter n. pag.). Measures to remove the dams will be undertaken as sanctioned from the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) that followed in 1995. Fig. 1. Map of the Elwha River, Clallam County, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. (Olympic National Park n. pag.)In an effort to remove the dams in a “safe, environmentally sound and cost effective manner” (U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Apr. 1996, n. pag.), various procedural alternatives are being considered prior to the implementation of the scheduled 2004 deconstruction. Under the River Erosion alternative, which is the proposed action, the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams would be incrementally removed in succession over a two year period with the controlled regulation of natural sediment erosion (e.g., U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Aug. 1996, n. pag.). A dredge and slurry system, a further method of sediment disposal, is an action alternative that has also been analyzed by the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Team (e.g., U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Apr. 1996, n. pag.).Between the inauguration of the Elwha River dams and 1994, it is estimated that 17.7 million cubic yards of sediments has become tr...
