Here is an update from Olympic National Park on the work to remove two dams on the Elwha River:

As steady progress continues on dismantling the two Elwha dams, the canyons once blocked by the dams are coming into view.

Elwha Dam

Crews are nearly done removing the concrete gravity dam that filled the river’s original channel, and will soon begin to slowly return the river back to its original channel.

This final diversion will take place over a number of weeks, as contractors carefully control the flow by positioning and repositioning large boulders in the channel. During the

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A Bozeman, Mont., company has been given the $26.9 million contract to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River.

The National Park Service’s Denver Service Center just announced Barnard Construction Co. has been awarded the $26,939,800 contract.

Dam removal will begin approximately 13 months from now, in September 2011.

“This is a historic moment,” Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin said in a news release. “With award of this contact, we begin the countdown to the largest dam removal and one of the largest restoration projects in U.S. history.”

The contract includes removal of …

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Olympic National Park has taken the next big step in the effort to remove two dams on the Elwha River. The park has issued a call for proposals for removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams.

“Just last week, we celebrated completion of the Port Angeles Water Treatment Plant and the Elwha Water Facilities, both major milestones in Elwha restoration,” Superintendent Karen Gustin said in a prepared statement. “With (the) bid request for dam removal, we have reached yet another landmark on the way to freeing the Elwha River and restoring hundreds of thousands of fish to its waters.” …

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