OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Lake Mills will be lowered 5 feet starting today in the beginning of the end for the reservoir behind Glines Canyon Dam west of Port Angeles — and an essential part of preparations for the demolition of the two dams on the Elwha River.
On Wednesday, workers finished barging a big-bucket excavator, a crane and several fuel tanks to a delta of at least 13 million yards of sediment at the southeast portion of the lake.
The delta was created where the Elwha River slows down as it empties into Lake Mills’ broader boundaries.
Lowering the lake will expose the sediment, allowing the excavator operator to scoop a pilot channel through the blockage in preparation for the tear-down of the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams that will begin in September 2011.
The massive project, the largest such project to date in the nation, is expected to be completed in March 2014.
Digging the channel will maximize the erosion of sediment and carry it downstream to replenish habitat in an area of the Elwha River that has been blocked to spawning salmon for 100 years.
The dams removal will open up 70 miles of the river and its tributaries.
“What we are doing is removing a plug, making that break to allow water to flow through the center” of the delta, Olympic National Park spokesman Dave Reynolds said Wednesday.
The lake is closed to the public until Oct. 4.
Cherokee Construction of Vancouver, Wash., is conducting the work under a $743,708 contract.
Work is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The draw-down’s impact will be noticeable from the Lake Mills viewpoint, exposing gravel sediment 5 feet below the current water level.
“We like to say it will look like a bathtub ring,” Reynolds said.
“It is a very significant project.”
Little of the channel work that begins today will be visible to the public, Reynold said.
The work site, at the southeastern portion of the lake, can’t be seen from the Lake Mills viewpoint at the face of the dam at the end of Olympic Hot Springs Road.
The sediment has piled up around a bend in the reservoir.
In addition, Upper Lake Mills Trail, which provides a common vantage point, also is closed.
But some work may be visible through the trees from Whiskey Bend Trail off Olympic Hot Springs Road, Reynolds said.
“I don’t think it will be any kind of great view,” he added.
The water level on Lake Mills will never rise again, lowering gradually again beginning next summer as the reservoir is drained and the Glines Canyon Dam torn down.
Lake Aldwell, behind the Elwha Dam, also will be lowered as the 108-foot-tall edifice is dismantled.
The National Park Service Aug. 26 awarded a $26.9 million contract to Barnard Construction Co. Inc. of Bozeman, Mont. to decommission the two dams as part of the $351 million Elwha River Restoration Project.
Reynolds said Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin will meet later this month with Barnard Construction representatives to discuss details of the project, including public access to public viewing of the tear-down.
It’s expected that web cams will be set up to allow the public to watch the project as it progresses by going on to the park’s web site at www.nps.gov/olym, the park has said.
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Senior Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
