OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A big celebration is being planned for the demise of the two Elwha River dams.
Demolition will begin in mid-September, and Olympic National Park is working to coordinate events for that month that will celebrate the freeing of the stream and accommodate the thousands of people expected to partake.
“We’re pulling together plans right now,” said Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman.
“We’re talking with a number of different partners,” she said, including the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, National Park Fund and Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Maynes said that between 5,000 and 10,000 are expected to participate in the events, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17-18.
“I think that’s what we’re hoping for,” she said.
Maynes said it’s too early to say what the park has in mind.
She said a “number of high-level government officials” have expressed interest in coming, but would not name them.
The park also is developing a list of other people to invite, Maynes said.
She said that list is not final and declined to say who may be put on it.
A budget for dam-removal events is being developed, Maynes said.
The 105-foot Elwha Dam that creates Lake Aldwell and the 201-foot Glines Canyon Dam that forms Lake Mills will be torn down in the hope of restoring salmon runs.
Since both dams were built without fish passage in the early 20th century, Pacific salmon were blocked from migrating as far as 70 miles upstream to spawn.
The restoration project is the sum of 43 smaller projects that include a new fish hatchery, water treatment plants and wells.
The massive project, the largest dam removal effort to date in the nation, is expected to be completed in March 2014.
The total project cost is $350 million.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
