PORT ANGELES — Public access to the beach and the surf on the west side of the Elwha River mouth will be disrupted for about two to four months this summer while the National Park Service beefs up a levee prior to the removal of two dams up river.
Olympic National Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said this week that the project had not gone out to bid, so it is not known when construction will start.
It is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, she said.
Maynes said the 950-foot-long, 70-foot-wide levee, which now ranges in height from 12 feet to 17 feet, will be heightened by 3 feet and slightly widened.
The size of the levee must be increased to protect the 30 to 40 residences from flooding when the Elwha Dam, built in 1913, and the Glines Canyon Dam, built in 1927, are removed.
“The purpose of the project is to maintain the current level of flood protection,” Maynes said.
Begins 2011
The project to remove the dams is expected to begin in 2011. The $308 million project was authorized in the federal 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act to restore salmon habitat on the river.
The heightening of the levee, which was built in 1964, is one of several mitigation projects scheduled this summer.
The two largest of those projects are the construction of the Elwha water treatment plant downstream from the new Elwha Bridge and the Port Angeles water treatment plant at the Port Angeles solid waste transfer station west of downtown.
Both are intended to reduce the amount of silt in public drinking water and the industrial water line when the dams are removed.
Closure dates not set
Although the beginning and end dates of the construction on the levee have not been determined, the Clallam County Board of Commissioners has given the National Park Service’s contractor a six-month window.
Two commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday, with Commissioner Mike Doherty absent, to allow Elwha Dike Road to be closed by the contractor anytime from Monday through Oct. 31.
The beach, which is a popular surf spot primarily during the winter months, will not be publicly accessible while the levee is being worked on, said Clallam County Engineer Ross Tyler.
Typically, people access the beach by walking along the top of the levee, he said.
Elwha Dike Road, which leads up to the levee, will be inaccessible during construction except for the residents who live on it.
That means the public parking areas on the road will be closed.
But Tyler said people may still get to the beach during weekends and holidays by parking elsewhere, walking down the road and following the bank instead of walking on the levee.
“As long as there’s not anybody doing anything, even after June 1 you can go down there . . . but as soon as something starts happening, everyone’s got to back out,” he said.
Clallam County Planning Biologist Cathy Lear said that property owners, with county support, built the levee to keep the river back.
But by doing so, a west channel of the river was cut off, and a pond formed in its path between the levee and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Salmon habitat
Lear said the county wants to use the pond for salmon habitat, particularly when the sediment behind the dams is released, but first the pond needs to be connected with the river.
The county — while working with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and state Department of Fish and Wildlife — has considered a few options, including running a pipe through the levee and even reducing the length of the levee.
Most discussion was about building a small stream from the pond just north of the levee to the river mouth.
Lear said a pedestrian foot bridge would have to be built if the county goes with this option.
“So much depends upon how the river responds to taking the dams out,” she said. “That’s kind of the wild card in the mix.”
Lear said the county and the state are funding a $13,000 study — with the county’s portion being $3,000 — on how to introduce salmon to the pond and how the removal of the dams will affect the salt water shoreline near the mouth of the river.
A draft report from the study was completed last month, and a final report is expected in another month, Lear said.
The rest of the funding for the study comes from a state shoreline block grant and from the Puget Sound Partnership.
Lear said the Elwha Act didn’t include funding for the study.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
