PORT ANGELES — In addition to being the site of the largest river restoration project so far in the history of the United States, the Elwha River is serving as a laboratory for science students from around the world.
Last week, 30 sophomores from Rainier Beach High School in Seattle spent the week at Olympic Park Institute, a hands-on science laboratory campus run by NatureBridge on the shores of Lake Crescent, to learn more about the technology behind the study of river ecology.
A $325 million federal project to restore the Elwha River’s once-famous salmon runs began in September with the start of the dismantling of the river’s two dams, which were built without fish ladders.
The removal work has been ahead of schedule.
The 108-foot lower dam, Elwha Dam — 5 miles from the mouth of the river — has been gone since mid-March, with only a silver stream of a wild river where Lake Aldwell once stretched behind it.
Eight miles upriver, Barnard Construction crews are chipping away at 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam.
Crews blasted a portion of the dam Thursday and took down the surge tower.
Work to remove Glines should be completed by spring or summer next year — a year earlier than expected.
Outdoor classroom
Students last week attended a Lower Elwha Klallam tribe forum about tribal hatchery salmon.
Last summer, about 600 coho were released into Little River and Indian Creek — Elwha River tributaries between the dams — to shield them from high sediment loads coming down the main stem of the river.
Those fish produced about 100 salmon redds, or nests, and those salmon have hatched.
Students also learned how to use chemical and measurement tests to determine water quality in a classroom setting and explored Lake Crescent by canoe, said Eva Foster, Natural Connections manager for Olympic Park Institute.
A group of 10 students who called themselves the “Riparian Barbarians” spent Thursday exploring the mouth of the Elwha River and taking a trip to see the site of the former Elwha Dam.
They also were given the chance to go behind the scenes at Glines Canyon Dam and the Lake Mills delta.
Feven Tadesse, a 15-year-old exchange student from Ethiopia, said she plans to take her knowledge of basic river ecology back to her home country.
On the banks of the river, she kneeled by the fast-flowing, muddy water with tiny vials of water and chemicals.
Her test results, and those of her classmates, were varied: Dissolved oxygen in the water reached 12 parts per million in some places and 7 ppm in others, at locations taken only 25 feet apart.
Not ideal conditions
Both measurements mean the water is in good condition for fish, but not ideal.
“The ideal is 9 [ppm],” said NatureBridge instructor Mandy Miller.
The students also found very high concentrations of silt, and Miller explained to them how 100 years of silt caught behind the dams was all being released in a two- to three-year period.
The Elwha River restoration project provides an unparalleled opportunity for science educators, since no one knows exactly how successful the project will be and how long it will take for results to be certain, Miller said.
“It’s like one big science experiment,” Miller said.
Louise Wong, a biology teacher at Rainier Beach High School, said the students had been working on a wetlands project on Lake Washington across the street from the high school but hadn’t had a chance to look at larger areas, such as the Elwha River watershed.
Feven, whose country is on the Indian Ocean, said that while Ethiopia has its own river systems, she has never seen anything like the Elwha River and other natural beauties on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“It’s very beautiful, a great experience,” Feven said.
During a break to discuss what they had seen during the previous activity, two students entered into a spirited debate as to whether the tribal fish hatchery is, in the long term, good or harmful to the future of the river.
Hatchery fish are necessary to bring back the salmon numbers quickly for commercial fishermen, who depend on the fish to make a living, said Kalelah Henderson, 15.
“They’re not as good as the wild ones,” said 16-year-old Mariah Pickett.
Mariah said the wild fish would have superior genetics and would return over time and create a better long-term return for the river as well as the fishermen.
The instructors smiled, since the students had revealed that they had learned enough about the river ecosystem to develop their own opinions on the project.
“It’s good to be passionate about the subject in real life,” Miller said.
The Rainier Beach High School trip was funded by a grant from the STEM Education Coalition, which supports students in science, technology, engineering and math.
NatureBridge offers scholarships to students who could not otherwise afford the trip and rents out the program’s facilities on the weekend to help fund the programs.
More information on the NatureBridge program can be seen at www.naturebridge.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
