One of the two dams on the Elwha River has been completely removed and there are about 50 feet of the remaining Glines Canyon dam left. Already so much sediment has been released that it's clogged up and shut down one of the water treatment plants in nearby Port Angeles, temporarily halting the largest dam removal project in US history.
While sediment is a problem for infrastructure, it’s providing excellent new habitat for fish and wildlife in the Elwha watershed on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
This is the first in a two-part series. Read the whole story on KUOW’s Earthfix.