PORT ANGELES — With fewer than three weeks to go, Olympic National Park staff and law enforcement said they will be ready to host Celebrate Elwha!, the nearly weeklong event next month commemorating the largest dam removal project in the nation’s history.
The stage at the Elwha Dam, where the main celebratory event will be held, has been constructed, the guests and acts have been confirmed, and plans to handle any emergency at an event attracting federal dignitaries and hundreds, if not thousands, of other people are set, they said.
“Everything is coming into place, and it’s really exciting to see,” said park spokesman Dave Reynolds.
The events Sept. 13-18 will mark the beginning of the three-year project to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River.
Musical acts and scientific lectures on the $325 million effort to restore the Elwha River’s ecosystem will be held during Celebrate Elwah!, but the main focus will be on the dam removals ceremony.
The invitation-only event will be held at the Elwha Dam, located about five miles upstream from the river’s mouth, and will include speeches from dignitaries, a poetry reading and Lower Elwha Klallam dancers.
Although the event will mark the start of dam removals, no demolition will occur at the Elwha Dam during the ceremony.
Removal will begin Sept. 15 at Glines Canyon Dam, two days before the dam removal ceremony at the Elwha Dam.
Reynolds said that starting demolition at the Elwha Dam, eight miles down-river from the Glines Canyon Dam, during the Sept. 17 event was considered but later nixed because “it would have been merely symbolic.”
He said demolition of the Elwha Dam will begin the week after the celebrations with the removal of the penstocks.
400 invited
Four hundred people have been invited to the Sept. 17 celebration, including federal and state dignitaries, the many scientists and government employees who have worked on the decades-old project, and Lower Elwha tribal members.
Reynolds said the National Park Service, which is leading the dam removals project and hosting the event, would like the ceremony to be accessible to the general public, but there’s not enough space at the 108-foot structure, the oldest dam on the river.
Still, the ceremony will be visible on big-screen televisions at City Pier, the Red Lion Hotel at 221 N. Lincoln St. in Port Angeles and on the Web.
No Web address has been set yet.
Dignitaries who have confirmed they will attend include Gov. Chris Gregoire, Rep. Norm Dicks, Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Park Service Director Jon Jarvis.
Tribe anticipation building
Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said the anticipation is building up for tribal members, especially the elders.
“The elders are ecstatic,” she said.
The tribe’s reservation west of Port Angeles is near the mouth of the Elwha River, and the tribe recalls huge salmon runs before the dams were built.
Real estate entrepreneur Thomas Aldwell built the Elwha Dam in 1913 to supply electricity to Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Poulsbo and the Navy shipyard in Bremerton.
The Glines Canyon Dam and hydropower project were built in 1927.
Tribal members have been waiting for the removal of the dams — and restoration of the salmon runs — since they first blocked fish passage, Charles said.
“We’re following in the footsteps of our ancestors as well as the previous councils,” she said.
Charles said the tribe has received 100 tickets for the event at the Elwha Dam.
The celebration presents a significant logistical challenge for local law enforcement, tasked with crowd and traffic control, that is compounded by the U.S. Sprint Boat Association National Finals to be held that week at the new sprint boat track near William R. Fairchild International Airport.
“Everything indicates that law enforcement will be maxed out,” said Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher.
But Gallagher and Deputy Chief Brian Smith said Police Department personnel have invested many hours of overtime into planning since December and believe they are ready.
“We’re going to make it a very safe and secure place,” Smith said.
Vacation time for officers during that week has been eliminated, and officers may end up working 12-hour shifts, they said.
An incident management system has been put in place with the help of other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration.
Helicopter landing zones near the events have also been identified for emergencies.
For more information about the upcoming celebration, visit www.celebrateelwha.com.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
