A log boom that prevented boats from drifting over the Elwha Dam was cut loose Friday, allowing the corralled logs to float downriver and become part of the future river habitat for salmon.
The exposed reservoir areas of Lake Aldwell and the remaining Lake Aldwell will remain closed to public use for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not really a lake anymore,” said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the Olympic National Park.
The closure is for safety, she said.
Without the log boom, there is no barrier between the remaining reservoir and the fast-moving river as it flows over the new diversion channel created last week.
“We don’t want people going over that diversion channel,” Maynes said.
Because the river channel and banks are changing quickly, access around the remaining reservoir is closed to vehicle, bicycle, foot traffic and boating, she said.
However, boaters and rafters coming down the Elwha River may enter the extreme upper reaches of the reservoir to take the watercraft out.
Camping, extended stays or loitering in the area is prohibited.
The work is part of the dismantling of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams that began last month in the National Park Service’s $325 million federal Elwha River restoration project.
The project, which is expected to be completed in three years, will return the legendary salmon river to its wild state after the two dams, which were built without fish ladders, are removed.
Dam demolition is being handled by Barnard Construction of Bozeman, Mont.
Demolition of the Elwha Dam, which is about five miles from the mouth of the river west of Port Angeles, is expected to be completed in early 2013, while Glines Canyon Dam, located upstream in Olympic National Park, is scheduled to be fully demolished about a year later.
Power outage
A power outage in the Elwha Valley is planned this week while old transmission lines and poles from the dams are taken down.
The outage will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Maynes said.
The planned outage is one of several that will occur as crews continue removal of power lines and power poles over the next three weeks, she said.
Removal of electricity transmission lines began Oct. 14.
Over the coming week, the reservoir level of Lake Aldwell will continue to drop slowly until it achieves an overall 8-foot drop.
Demolition of the 108-foot dam’s penstocks — the large metal pipes that led from the dam to the powerhouse — will continue through the coming week after contractors evaluate them for possible asbestos content.
Glines Canyon Dam
Workers continued last week deepening four notches in the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, which forms Lake Mills 13 miles upstream from the river’s mouth.
The reservoir is expected to be lowered an additional 4 feet by the end of the month, when work will pause during a fish window for spawning salmon that begins Nov. 1 and lasts for two months.
