PORT ANGELES — What does it take to remove two large dams and restore a wild and scenic river?
The federal government has just released the details of the Elwha dams removal project for purposes of gaining bidders.
The 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, which forms Lake Mills in Olympic National Park 13 miles upstream from the river’s mouth, and the 105-foot Elwha Dam, which creates Lake Aldwell outside the park’s boundaries, will be removed in the $308 million National Park Service project that starts in 2011.
It will be the most expensive North Olympic Peninsula public works project since the rehabilitation and east-half retrofit of the Hood Canal Bridge, which comes in at just under $500 million.
Both projects are substantially paid with funds from the federal government.
Click here to see the federal government’s requirements and discussion of the technical details of the Elwha River project: http://tinyurl.com/yceaks2.
For panoramic views of the inside of the Lower Elwha Dam electricity generation facilities, click here: http://tinyurl.com/ya2xlj2
