PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is gearing up to open a $2.1 million fish-rearing structure at Morse Creek near the U.S. Highway 101 S-curve east of Port Angeles to preserve the endangered Elwha River chinook salmon.
Pete Fisher, on-site foreman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the project is expected to be completed by the middle of this month.
“It’s getting close,” Fisher said.
The state has a 10- to 12-person crew working overtime to get fish in the ponds sometime between Feb. 15 and 22.
“It’s shaping up,” said Ray Berg, Fish and Wildlife Engineer and Project Manager.
No public ceremony is planned for the opening.
The fish crib is part of a $308 million project to remove the two Elwha River dams and restore the stream back to its natural state. It is being funded by the National Park Service.
The facility is being built on Morse Creek rather than the Elwha River to get 200,000 juvenile hatchery-born Elwha River salmon acclimated to Morse Creek.
Removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams — slated to begin in 2011 — carries a risk that the Elwha River salmon population could be wiped out by the large amount of sediment that will be released.
Conditions in the lower Elwha River may become temporarily unsuitable for salmon.
By raising some salmon in Morse Creek, the facility will preserve their genetic makeup if such an extinction occurs.
The same salmon, which will be marked, could then be used to replenish the Elwha River stock if needed, Berg said.
Construction of the facility began in early September. It was originally scheduled to open in December.
“It keeps getting pushed back,” Fisher said.
Berg said the delays were construction-related and routine. The delays did not change the cost estimate.
“There hasn’t been any substantive hang ups,” he said.
Four 100-feet-long, 10-feet wide and 5-feet-deep rearing ponds will hold the juvenile salmon, and a 1,350-square foot fiberglass pond will control pollution.
The rearing ponds will siphon from 1,600 to 2,400 gallons of water from Morse Creek per minute. The water will be returned to the stream at the same rate.
The Clallam County Public Utility District is providing electricity to the site. PUD crews erected a power pole north of U.S. Highway 101 near the facility on Thursday.
“We are essentially extending service to that site,” said Jeff Beaman, PUD spokesman.
Crews planned to temporarily close both lanes of the highway in the early morning hours today — sometime between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. — so the PUD could span a line from the south side of the highway to the north side.”
Beaman said there is nothing unusual about the medium service capacity power line.
The state will install an electrical panel and have the connection certified and inspected.
“Then we’ll install the meter,” Beaman said.
The facility will raise juvenile Elwha River chinook salmon for 12 years before it is demolished.
Meanwhile, groundbreaking for a new Elwha River salmon hatchery is scheduled for Friday.
The dam removal project will be the largest National Park Service restoration project except for the revival of the Florida Everglades.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
