PORT ANGELES — After years of negotiations, the document that will guide removal of the Elwha River dams and restoration of the once-fabled salmon river was signed Friday morning at City Hall.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, attended the signing ceremony, which included members of the Port Angeles City Council, Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and National Park Service.
“This is an important milestone in an exciting project,” Dicks said.
“I can’t tell you how excited I was when heard this agreement had been reached.”
Dicks has been responsible for earmarking $134.8 million in federal funding for the massive project to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River beginning in early 2008.
The project will be in the forefront of environmental restoration, and people will come from around the world to see it, Dicks said.
And after the project is completed, it will need a visitor center near the river similar to the center at Mount St. Helens, he said.
