Dr. Rob Young, Director of Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, received
a $1.5 M grant from the National Science Foundation in 2007 to bring youth and science
together in studying the effects of the dam removal. The grant couples middle school
students from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe with educators from the Olympic Park Institute . The project also links science with cultural components of the Lower Elwha Klallam
Tribe who had historically used the Elwha River basin for fishing salmon.
The Elwha River in Washington drains the central portion of the Olympic peninsula.
The river is currently dammed by the 108 foot tall Elwha Dam and the 210 foot tall
Glines Canyon Dam reducing the segment of river accessed by salmon to only 5 miles.
When the dams are eventually removed, the salmon will have access to over 70 miles
of the Elwha. Dam demolition is scheduled to begin in 2012.
Read the initial press release by the National Park Service here.