OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Additional water is being released from the dams on the Elwha River to augment a low stream flow and protect Chinook salmon redds, or egg nests, below the lower dam.
The river’s average flow for early October is approximately 648 cubic feet per second; even with the current augmented flows, the river is flowing at 353 cubic feet per second, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Both the Glines Canyon Dam — which forms Lake Mills 13 miles from the river’s mouth at the Strait of Juan de Fuca — and the Elwha Dam — which creates Lake Aldwell eight miles from the river’s mouth — are managed to attempt to maintain the river’s natural flow by measuring the amount of water entering the reservoirs and then releasing the same amount, Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement.
This year’s dry weather and very low river flows have generated concern for spawning salmon and the need for an increased water release, she said.
“It’s a very dry year,” Maynes said. “We had that little pulse of rain here, but it’s just been a very dry year.”
The increased flows will continue until the reservoir has dropped up to 18 feet, or until a substantial amount of rain falls, whichever happens first.
This type of flow augmentation has been provided several times in recent years, Maynes said.
Boat ramp
The water level may drop too low to allow use of the Lake Mills boat ramp, she said.
“If you are in a kayak or a canoe, it would still be usable, but a boat on a trailer most likely will not work,” Maynes said.
“Depending upon how long the stretch of dry weather goes, it may come to that point.”
The augmented flows were authorized by Karen Gustin, park superintendent, in collaboration with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, which operates a hatchery on the river west of Port Angeles.
The low flow of the river is causing little concern now at the state level, said Dan Partridge, communications manager for the state Department of Ecology’s water resources program.
No droughts
“We’ve had no drought declarations for any river basins in the state,” he said Friday, adding that there has been no discussion about such a declaration for the North Olympia Peninsula.
“There hasn’t been any talk of even a possibility of a drought declaration in that area,” he emphasized.
“We are keeping an eye on it,” he added. “We’ll be watching the rivers up there over the winter.
“We are concerned about the prospect of lower than normal precipitation and snow pack because this is an El Niño season shaping up, and that means we may have warmer and drier conditions.”
Prior to 1910, when construction on the first of two dams began, the Elwha River supported 10 stocks of salmon and steelhead. The dams were built without fish ladders, so spawning occurs only below the Elwha Dam.
With the goal of restoring salmon runs in the river, the two dams will be removed in a $308 million project scheduled to begin in 2011.
