PORT ANGELES — Lake Mills is reduced to a large puddle, Lake Aldwell is gone, plants are starting to grow in the empty lakebeds, and the salmon already are coming back to stretches of the Elwha River where they haven’t been seen for 100 years.
In all, it was a very good year of progress on the Elwha River’s recovery, Todd Suess, acting superintendent of Olympic National Park, told an audience of about 200 at Peninsula College’s Little Theater on Monday.
The gathering was the first of two free public events during the four-day 2012 Elwha River Science Symposium.
The second public symposium event — a panel of experts comparing notes on progress made throughout the year — will begin at 9 a.m. today at Little Theater on the college campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
During the symposium, scientists are sharing what has been learned during the first year of the $325 million Elwha River restoration project.
The symposium sums up the progress that has been made since Sept. 17, 2011 — the ceremonial beginning of the end for Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam.
The scientific, registration-only portions of the symposium, located at NatureBridge at Olympic National Park, are sold out.
When Suess announced the discovery of several adult chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, migrating upstream in the Elwha River above the former Elwha Dam site, the audience broke into delighted applause.
“It’s hard to believe it was less than a year ago the dams started to come down,” Suess said, noting the rapid pace of change on the Elwha River.
First, the 100-year-old Elwha Dam came down faster than expected, then wild steelhead were spotted in the “middle reaches,” between the two dam sites; juvenile salmon were sighted in the same area; and plants are beginning to take hold.
By this time next year, the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, built in 1927, may be gone, and next year’s kings may make their way above Lake Mills on their own, he said.
Francis Charles, chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, spoke of the years of work the tribe dedicated to bringing back the salmon and of the tribal elders’ stories of life before the dam.
Sequim filmmaker John Gussman presented a 20-minute clip of his documentary “Return of the River,” which featured many of the scientists at the symposium.
Seattle Times reporter Linda Mapes, who has covered Elwha River issues since 1996, discussed her experiences and read an excerpt from a book she is writing about the river that she expects to release in May.
Mapes said she has seen as much progress in one year as she expected to see in five to seven years.
Before and after Monday’s public presentation, river scientists presented posters summarizing their work and answered visitors’ questions about their research on the river.
The public forum will include presentations from river restoration project managers about physical river processes and biological monitoring of the river and dam sites, as well as a question-and-answer period.
Panelists include Brian Krohmer, project manager for Barnard Construction, the contractor dismantling the two dams on the Elwha River; Tim Randle, hydraulic engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation; George Press, fisheries biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Guy Gelfenbaum, coastal geologic and oceanographic researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey; Mike McHenry, fisheries habitat biologist for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe; and Joshua Chenoweth, botanical restorationist for Olympic National Park.
For those who cannot attend in person, a live podcast of both public events is available online at http://tinyurl.com/cegw4fk.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.