Text / Elwhar River Ecosystem Restoration Implementation: Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Click here to view text. May contain additional pages.

Get Citation

Have a question about this item?

Contact Owner

Item information.

Title: Elwhar River Ecosystem Restoration Implementation: Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Creator: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Date Created and/or Issued: 4/1/96
Contributing Institution: UC Riverside, Library, Water Resources Collections and Archives
Collection: Clearinghouse for Dam Removal Information (CDRI)
Rights Information: Copyrighted
Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Description: Scope/Content: Abstract: The U.S. Department of the Interior proposes to fully restore the Elwha River ecosystem and native anadromous fisheries through the removal of Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam and implementing fish restoration and revegetation. Dam removal would occur over an 18-month to 2-year period. Elwha Dam would be removed by blasting, and Glines Canyon Dam by a combination of blasting and diamond-wire saw cutting. Lake Aldwell would be drained by a diversion channel, and Lake Mills by notching down Glines Canyon Dam. Stored sediment would be eroded naturally by the Elwha River. The project area is located in Clallam County, on the Olympic Peninsula, in Washington State. In addition to the proposed action, two other alternatives are examined. They are: the Dredge and Slurry alternative (removing fine-grained sediment prior to dam removal by using suction dredges, and sending the slurry to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in a pipeline), and No Action (dams are retained as is, without fish passage measures). The proposed action is also the Department of the Interior's preferred alternative. Short-term negative impacts from removing both dams could result from the release of sediment now trapped in the reservoirs. The finer grained particles could temporarily but significantly impact fish or other aquatic organisms. Impacts on water quality, river morphology, flooding, native anadromous and resident (e.g. trout and char) fisheries, living marine resources, wildlife, threatened and endangered species, vegetation, cultural resources, land use, recreation, aesthetics, and socioeconomics are examined in this environment impact statement. Both of the other alternatives would also have significant impacts on resources examined in this document.
Type: text
Form/Genre: digital copy
Identifier: ark:/86086/n26h4h2m
507
Subject: Alternative analysis
Dams
Dam retirement
Place: Elwha River, WA
Elwha Dam
Glines Canyon Dam
United States

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.