World's Largest Dam Removal Project Complete in Washington State

Here's a comeback story for the ages: The Elwha River in Washington, dammed for the production of hydroelectric power for almost a century, runs wild again.

1 minute read

August 29, 2014, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

Stacey Lynn Payne / Shutterstock

"[On August 26], on a remote stretch of the Elwha River in northwestern Washington state, a demolition crew hired by the National Park Service plans to detonate a battery of explosives within the remaining section of the Glines Canyon Dam," reports Nichell Nijhuis.

"If all goes well, the blasts will destroy the last 30 feet of the 210-foot-high dam and will signal the culmination of the largest dam-removal project in the world."

"The removal of the Glines Canyon Dam and the Elwha Dam, a smaller downstream dam, began in late 2011. Three years later, salmon are migrating past the former dam sites, trees and shrubs are sprouting in the drained reservoir beds, and sediment once trapped behind the dams is rebuilding beaches at the Elwha's outlet to the sea."

FULL STORY: World’s Largest Dam Removal Unleashes U.S. River After Century of Electric Production

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 in National Geographic

Environment Washington Elwha River Dam Removal National Park Service

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