{"id":5861,"date":"2017-10-27T13:26:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T08:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cawater-info.net\/all_about_water\/en\/?p=5861"},"modified":"2017-10-27T13:26:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T08:26:29","slug":"dams-removed-on-washington-state-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cawater-info.net\/all_about_water\/en\/?p=5861","title":{"rendered":"Dams Removed On Washington State River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, a huge blast took out the last remnants of the Glines Canyon Dam in Washington,\u00a0leaving the Elwha river dam-free\u00a0for the first time in over 100 years.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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The blast marked the end of a dam removal process that, after being discussed\u00a0for years,\u00a0started in earnest in 2011, removing first the smaller Elwha dam, then the 210-foot-high Glines Canyon dam.\u00a0Final removal of the rubble will take\u00a0another six to eight weeks, but environmentalists and local Indian tribes are already seeing improvements to the ecosystem. From\u00a0National Geographic:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the past three years, the sediment trapped behind the dams has washed downstream, rebuilding riverbanks and gravel bars and, in and around the river\u2019s mouth, creating some 70 acres of new beach and riverside estuary habitat for Dungeness crabs, sand lance, surf smelt, clams, and other species. On the ocean bottom just offshore, what used to be a kelp-covered expanse of cobbles is now blanketed with mud and sand, also good habitat for crabs and sand lance. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing all sorts of different creatures. It\u2019s fantastic,\u201d says U.S. Geological Survey researcher Jonathan\u00a0Warrick*. The Elwha Klallam tribe hopes that eventually, its members will once again be able to harvest shellfish near the mouth of the Elwha.<\/em><\/p>\n

And shellfish are hardly the only\u00a0creature seeing the benefits. Native species of salmon are expected to repopulate the river,\u00a0and the former lakebeds are being re-filled with native plant life, which scientists hope will attract the local elk.<\/p>\n

Though removing a dam from a river can be a costly and intricate process, it\u2019s not as unusual as you might think. The non-profit group American Rivers notes that almost 850 dams have been removed in the past 20 years.\u00a051 of those\u00a0were taken down in 2013.\u00a0 Last year, California began its\u00a0largest dam removal process, starting work on the removal of the 106-foot-high San Clemente Dam on the Carmel river.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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