PORT ANGELES — The story of Elwha River restoration will be told for generations to come in a handsome interpretive center overlooking the free-flowing lower river.
Once completed in May, the Juan de Fuca Scenic Byway Association facility off state Highway 112 will feature 16 panels describing in words and graphics the history of the Elwha River and its $325 million dam removal and restoration project.
Information kiosks will be displayed in a 30-foot-by-30-foot, wood-covered space with 300 floor tiles painted by students from Dry Creek and Crescent elementary schools and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal language program.
“We think it’s going to be magnificent,” said Carolyn Flint, Juan de Fuca Scenic Byway Association board member and assistant project manager.
A cedar log donated by Merrill & Ring will grace the facility west of Port Angeles near the intersection of state Highway 112 and Lower Dam Road.
Outer panels will provide information about the 61-mile National Scenic Byway and its places of interest.
The facility will serve as a mini-rest area with a vault toilet, picnic tables and bicycle rack.
It is intended as a signature attraction of the scenic byway, which has several smaller displays where people can read about logging camps of yesteryear and working forests.
“It is our first destination point of interest on the byway,” Flint said.
“We hope to do more.”
The Elwha River interpretive center is funded by a $208,000 Federal Highway Administration grant with a $77,000 match from the Clallam County road fund.
It is a collaboration of the scenic byway association, National Park Service and Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
The scenic byway association received the grant in 2011. Officials from the association — representatives of Joyce, the Lower Elwha and Makah tribes, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Clallam Bay-Sekiu and Merrill & Ring — have been “working on it ever since,” Flint said.
A glossy, 24-page commemorative booklet on Elwha restoration and the interpretive panels created by the scenic byway association are almost finished, Flint said.
Clallam County commissioners will open bids for construction of the interpretive center Dec. 16.
No proposals were submitted in the first bid opening because contractors were busy on other jobs, Assistant County Engineer Joe Donisi has said.
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and National Park Service provided a “tremendous amount of input” for the facility and its interpretive displays, Flint said.
“Their partnership was invaluable,” she added.
Students who painted the floor tiles will be invited to a grand opening in late May.
“We gave them a color scheme, and we asked them to portray things they thought they would see in the Elwha watershed,” Flint said.
“We were looking for ways to invite the community to invest in it, to take ownership. We want people to feel like it’s theirs.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.