Elwha dam removal focus of new Burke exhibit

Before and After

Photo:Zandcee

A new exhibit at Seattle's Burke Museum, “Elwha: A River Reborn,” details the decades-long fight to remove Elwha River dams, and detail the environmental renewal happening right now.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/11/17/2834430/elwha-dam-removal-focus-of-new.html#storylink=cpy

LINK (via: The Olympian)

Elwha River sees largest run of Chinook in decades

The largest run of Chinook salmon in decades returned to the Elwha River this fall, according to officials with the Olympic National Park.

LINK (via: The Kitsap Sun)

Just imagine if they took those four Snake River Dams out.

Most run-of-river B.C. hydro projects can harm fish

Run of river hydro projects in BC are touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to large scale hydro projects. 

What these new projects don't have in size, they make up in sheer numbers. They are making it up in intrusions into hundreds of undeveloped areas with roads, dams, pipelines, temporary construc­tion camps, and a permanent spiderwork of transmission lines.

LINK (via: Watershed Sentinal)

Now an interim study by the Pacific Salmon Foundation suggests that almost 100 percent of private run-of-river power projects studied in B.C. are located on streams where they could affect fish.

LINK (via:Vancouver Sun)

DamNation – Susitna: Alaska’s Mega Dam(n) Proposal

Photo: Travis Rummel

A must read from Travis Rummel and Matt Stoecker who floated the Sustina to see first hand what's at stake if a proposed mega dam on the river ever comes to fruition.

LINK (via: The Cleanest Line)

Small Dam To Be Removed From Oregon's Crooked River

Another one bites the dust!

With funding from American Rivers and NOAA Restoration Center River grants partnership, the six-foot tall, 150-foot wide Stearns Dam is being removed from central Oregon’s Crooked River.

Media have been invited for the initial notch opening in the dam on the morning of Oct. 24.

By removing this dam, 12 miles of the Crooked River will be opened up for chinook salmon and Middle Columbia steelhead, both anadromous species that historically utilized the Crooked River.

LINK (via: CBB Bulletin)

The Ambitious Restoration of An Undammed Western River

Image: National Park Service: Elwha Restoration Project

Caroline Fraser reports on the current status of the Elwha dam removal project.

With the dismantling of two dams on Washington state’s Elwha River, the world’s largest dam removal project is almost complete. Now, in one of the most extensive U.S. ecological restorations ever attempted, efforts are underway to revive one of the Pacific Northwest’s great salmon rivers.

LINK (via: Yale Environmant 360)