Elwha generators wind down for last time
June 2nd, 2011 by cdunaganUPDATE, June 2, 2011, 3:30 p.m.
Click for video
I just learned from Greg Bedinger of a new video released yesterday by the National Park Service.
The five-minute “webisode,” called “Elwha River Restoration,” packs in a lot of information about Native American connections to the river, the history of the dams, anticipation of dam removal and future river restoration. Bedinger, of Wings over Watersheds, was involved in the production.
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I was impressed by John Gussman’s sensitivity while photographing human aspects of the two dams on the Elwha River yesterday, as their power plants were turned off for the last time. (See photos at bottom.)
Observers crowd the control room as
the power goes out at the two dams on the Elwha River near Port
Angeles
Photos by John Gussman
The powerful generators and massive dams are enormous when one stands beside them. But, in the end, it is good to remember that the controls are built for operation by human hands.
Gussman, who runs Doubleclick Productions, is documenting the story of the Elwha dams — their history, removal and restoration. Check out his website, Return of the River, which includes some great videos.
Here’s what he wrote to me this morning in an e-mail:
“As far as being there yesterday, it was exciting to see the switches thrown for the last time, with big yellow sparks, and to listen to the big generators slowly wind down and become silent forever.
“The dam crew, I am sure, was very melancholy about it all; they were putting their ‘baby’ to sleep for the final time. End of an era.”
In a piece for the Seattle Times, reporter Linda Mapes quotes Kevin Yancy, manager of the Elwha hydroelectric project for the Bureau of Reclamation:
“We are cutting the heart out of these old girls… It really is the end of an era. Old plants like these, there is an art to making electricity in these manually run plants, keeping it on. Today, they are all automated and no one is building any more hydropower.”
Linda’s story is filled with historical references as well as hints about the future. Even in the dam’s final days, she wrote, “the brass and glass and all of their gauges were polished, the floors swept clean and the paint new and fresh and the equipment, some nearly 100 years old, running perfectly.”
Yancy again:
“I wanted everything running smoothly…. I didn’t want an apathetic response or a bitterness and ‘It’s coming out, who cares anyway.’ We had a job to do here, and we wanted to do it with dignity and pride.”
Tags: Bureau of Reclamation, Elwha Dam, Elwha River, John Gussman
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June 2nd, 2011 at 3:41 pm
UPDATE, June 2, 2011, 3:30 p.m.
I just learned from Greg Bedinger of a new video released yesterday by the National Park Service.
The five-minute “webisode,” called “Elwha River Restoration,” packs in a lot of information about Native American connections to the river, the history of the dams, anticipation of dam removal and future river restoration. Bedinger, of Wings over Watersheds, was involved in the production.
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:35 am
Greg and Wings and other Lighthawk pilots came three different times during this past year to fly many people over the Samish River watershed to help them better understand the fecal coliform issues here, and the impacts on shellfish. That might make for some story items for you – we have no environmental reporter coverage to speak of here in Skagit County.
June 3rd, 2011 at 10:36 am
Samish Bay is an incredibly important shellfish growing area, impacted by bacterial pollution from the watershed. In all honesty, I don’t think my editors would approve if I chose to spend a lot of time in area so removed from our newspaper’s basic territory.
On the other hand, let me think about what I can do in this blog, where I often discuss subjects with a broad appeal. I’m open to further suggestions, and maybe someone else knows of a reporter keenly interested in following developments in the Samish region.
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Well, The Partnership has been thrust into the Samish Bay/River issue over their boot-tops … see the article in the News toward the top of The Partnership home-page. So it has become a region-wide topic and harbinger of the ability of this group to do a needed good deed. It bears some coverage beyond that provided by the team.