PORT ANGELES — With shovels in hand, dignitaries from near and far — including Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks — broke ground on the $16.4 million Elwha River fish hatchery last week.
More than 200 citizens attended the one-hour ceremony at the future site of the facility near Stratton Road on the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles on a sun-splashed Friday.
The hatchery is a key component of the National Park Service’s $308 million removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. Actual dam removal will begin in 2011 and run through 2014.
The purpose of the landmark project is to restore the Elwha River to its natural state and bring native salmon and other fish back to the river.
“We, as Tribal Council and staff, are following the path of our elders set for us to protect and preserve our natural habitat,” Charles said.
“This hatchery is just one of the many steps along that path to building a pristine environment for salmon to return home.”
Tribal members, environmentalists, local, state and federal officials have championed Elwha dam removal for decades.
“Today is another critical and meaningful step forward on a journey that I believe will ultimately be of international ecological importance,” said Dicks, D-Belfair, of the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
Dicks has been a long-time supporter of the dams removal project.
Construction of the hatchery is expected to take 18 months. The old hatchery nearby will operate for about three years before it is decommissioned.
The new hatchery is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus package.
About $54 million in stimulus money has already gone into the project, said Tracie Stevens, senior policy advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.
“Consistent with the purpose of the stimulus bill, there will be an estimated 45 jobs during the peak of construction on the hatchery, which will have a substantial impact on local employment,” Dicks said.
The hatchery jobs will augment an estimated 130 jobs that were created through construction of two water treatment facilities upstream.
Most of the speakers at Friday’s ground-breaking praised the teamwork among the Lower Elwha tribe, the National Park Service, federal and state agencies, the city of Port Angeles and Clallam County.
“All of these entities have been continually intrigued by the potential of this great scientific experiment,” Dicks said.
100-pound salmon
Dicks, a sport fisherman, said he hopes to one day catch one of those 100-pound chinook salmon that tribal members have told him once swam in the Elwha River.
Construction of the 105-foot Elwha Dam in 1913 and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam in 1927 blocked the progress of salmon up the river and prevented the return of fish to spawn.
“In just a few years, the free-flowing Elwha will be capable of producing and sustaining 250,000 salmon,” Dicks said.
“It can, and it will, be a model for similar dam removal efforts.”
Brian Winter, Elwha project manager for the National Park Service, said the old hatchery will operate until fish are transferred to the new facility.
“They will leave it running for a little while because salmon will be returning to that for a while yet,” Winter said after the ceremony.
“We need to get the fish to return to the new facility, but eventually it will be completely decommissioned.”
Later this month, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will open a $2.1 million fish rearing facility near Morse Creek east of Port Angeles.
Dam removal could temporarily wipe out fish populations on the Elwha River because of the large amount of sediment that will be released.
If that happens, an estimated 200,000 juvenile salmon could be transferred from Morse Creek to the Elwha River after conditions there return to normal.
The National Park Service awarded the contract for the fish hatchery to James W. Fowler Co.
Construction was originally expected to begin in October, but it was delayed when two of the eight bidders filed a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office. The GAO dismissed the protest.
Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin said the new hatchery on the Elwha River is a “significant component” of ecosystem restoration.
“It will produce coho, pink, chum and steelhead that will call the Elwha River home,” Gustin said.
“We will eventually see the return of hundreds of thousands of fish to this river, which is going to be an amazing sight to see.
“This project is of course significant for environmental reasons, no doubt about that, but just as significant for cultural reasons. The restoration of this river and the importance of salmon to the tribe’s culture cannot be overstated.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.