Wonders Unveiled

The fifth webisode in the Restoring the Elwha series contiues to document the progress of dam removal and explores the rapidly evolving landscapes and habitats that have been unveiled as the Lake Aldwell and Lake Mills reservoirs drain and the river returns.

LINK

Undamming the Elwha

Worth a half hour of your time.

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)

The Susitna River Dam - A bad idea rises in Alaska

While the rest of the world is doing their best to remove aging dams, the State of Alaska is proposing to build a giant new one on Alaska's Sustina River.

The State of Alaska is pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to license a 735-foot high dam and hydroelectric plant on the Susitna (at a projected cost of $5.2 billion), which would drastically alter the river’s physical characteristics and create a 42-mile long, up to 5-mile wide reservoir that would flood approximately 25,000 acres of pristine wilderness, an area larger than the island of Manhattan.

LINK (via: The NRDC)