PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is building a $2.1 million facility to preserve the endangered Elwha River Chinook salmon.
The 5,550 square-foot facility, to be completed in December, is being built as part of the $308 million project to remove the two Elwha River dams and restore the stream back to its natural state.
It is paid for by the National Park Service, and construction began about three weeks ago, said project manager Ray Berg.
But the facility is being built on Morse Creek adjacent to U.S. Highway 101 rather than the Elwha River, which hosts a salmon hatchery.
The purpose of the facility is not to hatch the fish but to get 200,000 juvenile hatchery-born Elwha River salmon acclimated to the waters of Morse Creek every year so that they return to that stream to spawn, Berg said.
Risk to salmon
Removal of the dams, slated to begin in 2012, carries a risk that the Elwha River salmon population would be wiped out by the large amount of sediment that would be released, said the project’s planning document, which was filed with the Clallam County Department of Community Development.
“Demolition of the dams is expected to initially release large quantities of sediment and create habitat conditions in the lower river that are temporarily unsuitable for salmon,” it said.
The facility, by raising some of the salmon in Morse Creek, will preserve the salmon’s genetic makeup in case such an extinction occurs, the document said.
The same salmon, which will be marked, could then be used to replenish the Elwha River stock if needed.
The facility will mainly consist of four 100-feet long, 10-feet wide and 5-feet deep rearing ponds that will hold the juvenile salmon and a 1,350-square foot fiberglass pollution control pond.
The rearing ponds will siphon from 1,600 to 2,400 gallons of water from Morse Creek per minute. The water will be returned to the stream at the same rate.
Berg said the facility will raise juvenile Elwha River Chinook salmon for 12 years before it is demolished.
By then, he said the Elwha River habitat would return to satisfactory levels.
Berg said Fish and Wildlife is using a sandbag coffer dam to reduce the amount of sediment traveling downstream from the construction site.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
