An archeological survey of the 22.4-acre Hood Canal Bridge graving yard site to determine the extent of Native American remains and artifacts on the Port Angeles property will begin today.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal and state Department of Transportation officials signed a 10-page agreement late Thursday afternoon.
The survey is widely seen as the first step toward eventually resuming construction of the $17 million onshore dry dock in which concrete anchors and pontoons for a new half of the Hood Canal floating bridge will be built.
“We are very pleased,” Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairman Dennis R. “Sully” Sullivan said. “It was a very professional and productive process and the agreement will protect our interests.”
The survey will probably take three weeks and be followed by an analysis that could determine the fate of the graving project in Port Angeles.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.