Last Dam Summer
As an environmentally forward state, Washington practices many progressive techniques to help renew aspects of the environment that has been harmed by the imposed infrastructure of the industrial era. Many years ago the Elwha River was dammed in two places (1913 and 1927 respectively) in the Olympic National Forest in order to create more hydroelectric power. The dams are detrimental to the ecosystem and to the people who inhabit the area around the Elwha River. Since the dams were built, salmon have not been able to swim past the dams to spawn in their natural habitat on the Elwha River. Salmon was prized above all other fish because it was the economic, cultural, and spiritual heart of the Elwha River to the Native Americans. The Native American tribes who have fished the salmon on this river for many centuries have lost the economic, spiritual, ritual and nutritional benefits that the river used to provide them. Also, when the dams were built, some tribal land was flooded and lost its value as well. In my opinion, the Elwha River ecosystem was the biggest loser in this specific battle between nature and humanity. Of the Elwha River ecosystem, the salmon were the most noted species to be harmed because they were missed most by humanity. Furthermore, the Native Americans were the most noted peoples to be harmed because they were heavily reliant on the benefits of the salmon. Nevertheless, there were many more harmful aspects of the dams that people are not aware of because we have not studied them or they are unquantifiable under human standards. For example, many ecosystem functions that enable life (including human life) are harmed when an environment is changed so drastically.
The government has recently decided to remove the dams. While Native Americans support the removal, they have not been directly included in the process of dam removal. Nevertheless, they are inherently included in the end product due to the bolt decision, which states that the Indian Tribes are entitled to half of all fish. Even though the Native Americans have a very strong connection to the river, the government is removing the dams for other reasons, such as economic, mitigation, licensing and environmental protection reasons. The dams are being removed because the power could be bought for less money elsewhere, the dams need new licensing, new regulations require fish passage, and mitigation would be costly. This will be the largest dam removal in the world. The National Park Service is funding the removal of the dams, replacing the salmon in the river, and protecting drinking water, which will directly benefit the Native Americans who are dependent on the river system as a fishery and a clean water source. Native Americans will be able to fish the salmon once more for the first time in a hundred years. Furthermore, The National Park Service is not funding education, research or monitoring in relation to the project, which inhibits humanity’s ability to learn from the project and statistically see how the ecosystem changes with respect to the dams’ removal. This is a very unique opportunity to for humanity to learn how the natural environment changes with respect to anthropologic changes.
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| This picture illustrates the amount of sediment that has accumulated above one of the dams on the Elwha River. |
While there are many ways in which this project is beneficial, there are also many ways in which this project can go awry. Many feet of sediment have accumulated around the dams some of which will be removed, but the remaining sediment has unclear consequences. Scientists do not know what species are in the seed bank in the sediment and which species will grow in the sediment. It is also unknown whether that land will be relinquished to the native peoples and if it will even be considered usable. There are so many questions that will be answered through this project, but since there is no funding for research most people will not be able to learn from it. While humanity continues to face the environmental destruction of the past and present, it is interesting to watch how it is dealt with and how humanity interacts with the environment. The removal of the Elwha dams is an example of humanity trying to recreate an ecosystem that was harmed by humanity, but the way in which they do it does not reflect the importance of native peoples nor the opportunity to learn from such an extravagant project. Instead humanity is motivated by economic and political ideals in order to patch one damaged piece of the ecosystem with no regard to the interconnectivity between this damaged piece and other ones that have occurred or wSHill occur in the future.
Sources:
- Dr. Jerry Freilich, Olympic National Park Research Coordinator
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