Lower Elwha Klallam: Peninsula salmon projects get $4.5 million - The state has awarded $4.5 million in grants for new salmon restoration projects on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Improve your computer skills - Want to improve your job skills or learn basic or advanced computer skills? The Microsoft IT Academy is an array of over 400 free online courses and resources now available through the North Olympic Library System, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Library and other libraries throughout Washington. Courses include Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013, SQL Server and Visual Studio. To get started at any NOLS library, you need a current NOLS card.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha exhibit at Burke explores reborn river - A new Burke Museum exhibit tells the story of a river, the people who have depended on it, the scientists who study it, and the changes wrought first by the construction of two dams and now by the biggest dam-removal project in U.S. history.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Wild Scenic Film Festival and Fundraiser at Pepperdine, Nov. 19 - �The Craziest Idea� is a dam fine film by Andy Maser and a fundraiser for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is hard to resist a film called The Craziest Idea. Especially when it involves the single largest dam removal in history, leaping salmon, a magical little old lady and a happy ending.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Granddaughter pays homage to ancestors - Port Angeles born and bred author Teresa Schoeffel-Lingvall�s new book, �Images of America: Olympic Hot Springs,� is a labor of love. The slim volume tells the story of her ancestors� nearly 60-year history with the Olympic Hot Springs through dozens of family photos dating from the 1890s to the resort�s closure in 1966.

Lower Elwha Klallam: A damaged river still flows with soul - It was green everywhere. Low on the forest floor, on stones and on rotting old logs just outside my car window, the moss was vibrant green -- a soft, velvety refuge. The slim licorice ferns were a paler green, as the rain pelted down on them. Eighty feet above the ground, so high they seemed almost lonesome, the spindly boughs of fir trees were black-green, as though they had swallowed up the full, brooding force of nature itself.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribal remains buried after decades at museum - The remains of a native woman who likely lived on the North Olympic Peninsula centuries ago have been returned to the earth after being held at a Seattle museum for decades. The Peninsula Daily News reported that the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members buried the remains at Tse-whit-zen site, the historic location of one of the largest prehistoric Klallam villages.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha dam teardown resumes with a bang - Workers on the Olympic Peninsula blasted a notch out of the Glines Canyon Dam on Saturday, continuing teardown work halted a year ago because of problems dealing with increased Elwha River sediment.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Lincoln Park longhouse comes down in bittersweet moment for tribe - Volunteers and staff with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe Wednesday were sifting through the remains of the longhouse in Lincoln Park for salvageable wood after demolishing the dilapidated structure. The work has been bittersweet for many of the tribal members involved since the longhouse was built some 40 years ago, largely through tribal volunteer labor, said Frances Charles, tribal chairwoman.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Salmon Swarm To Spawn In Elwha River And Its Tributaries At Olympic National Park - Salmon fisheries seem to be quickly rebuilding along the Elwha River drainage below Olympic National Park in the wake of efforts to restore the river, as thousands of Chinook salmon have been counted in the river and its tributaries.font>

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe will welcomes canoes - Frances Charles, Lower Elwha Klallam tribal chairwoman, said the landings in Port Angeles are always special because they are typically when tribes from Vancouver Island, with whom the Elwha people share ancestry, join the journey.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe to pay costs of longhouse teardown - The city likely will pay nothing to help the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe tear down the decades-old wooden longhouse in Lincoln Park after City Council members approved an agreement with the tribe last week.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Fish restoration project complicated affair on Washington's Elwha River - There's an effort in Washington to restore the stock and habitat of some of its native fish. On the Elwha River, that's meant taking down dams to restore natural habitat. But new problems have cropped up, lawsuits have been filed and, frankly, the fish aren't always cooperating.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Dam Removal Ushers In New Life In Washington State - Two dams that block the migration of salmon are coming down in the largest dam removal in U.S. history. The dam sits on the Elwha River in the northwest corner of Washington state. They were built in the early 1900s to power nearby timber mills, but their power is no longer needed.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Which Fish Get To Recolonize After Elwha�s Dams Are Gone? - Millions of cubic yards of sediment and debris are flowing down from above the two dams, making this murky lower stretch of the river a bad place to spawn. But nevertheless, these few wild fish represent the prospect of a restored river, populated with thousands of salmon and steelhead � rivaling the numbers of fish that were here before the dams went in 100 years ago.

Lower Elwha Klallam: �Elwha: A River Reborn�: the resurrection of a river - In �Elwha: A River Reborn,� Lynda V. Mapes and Steve Ringman document the process of restoring 70 miles of pristine salmon spawning habitat by removing dams on the Olympic Peninsula�s Elwha River.

Lower Elwha Klallam: City And Park Officials Confer On Elwha Water Facilities - Officials from the City of Port Angeles and Olympic National Park met Thursday at Port Angeles City Hall to discuss and share concerns about ongoing issues of the quality and quantity of treated water at the Elwha Water Facilities (EWF).

Lower Elwha Klallam: More repairs needed at Port Angeles water plant, will likely hold up Elwha River dam removal work - Additional repairs are needed for the sediment-clogged Elwha Water Treatment Plant on the Elwha River, and that could push the removal of the remaining 60 feet of Glines Canyon Dam past the initially estimated July 1 resumption date, an Olympic National Park spokeswoman said.

Lower Elwha Klallam: The life of the Elwha: Biography of a river - In her new book, "Elwha: A River Reborn" (The Mountaineers Books, co-published with The Seattle Times; photography by Steve Ringman; softcover, $29.95), Lynda Mapes, who has covered all this (very well) for the Seattle Times, has � sensibly � kept her focus tightly on the Elwha. This is not a book about dams or salmon or struggling milltowns. It is about the Elwha.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha dam removal hostage to water plant repairs - Elwha dam removal is on hold until fixes can be made to expensive water-treatment facilities that don�t work. Some experts say dam removal will likely remain stalled until next year.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Port Angeles to front funds for tribal police software - The Lower Elwha Klallam Police Department will get a helping hand from the city to buy software for eight mobile computers in tribal police cars.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Lower Elwha 'cancer fighter' doing well after surgery - A fund at First Federal has been set up to help the family of Derek Charles of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe pay his medical expenses.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha too clogged for fish to live - Two days after I hiked the sandy, rocky desolation that used to be Lake Mills, as many as 200,000 chinook salmon were killed in what has to be one of the biggest blunders in the history of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Dead salmon found along silt-choked Elwha River after hatchery release - Piles of dead year-old chinook salmon, numbering at least in the hundreds, were found along the Elwha River's lower banks and mouth after hatchery smolts were released last week. Sediment from the river clogged the gills of most he examined, said Mike McHenry, a fish biologist and habitat manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, who saw the dead fish at the river's mouth and on sandbars Monday and Tuesday.

Lower Elwha Klallam-Jamestown S'Klallam: Clallam County to fund mental health crisis center - Clallam County has approved a contract with Peninsula Behavioral Health to establish a mental health crisis respite center in Port Angeles. Peter Casey, Peninsula Behavioral Health executive director, said he has verbal commitments from OMC, the city and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe to help support the center in the future. (The commitments from the city and Lower Elwha do not include financial assistance.) �We anticipate speaking with Jamestown [S'Klallam tribe] and also the city of Sequim,� he added.

Lower Elwha Klallam: River gnaws away at a century of sediment - A mother lode of mud is making its way down the Elwha River, and with it, an armada of floating and waterlogged debris.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribal elder Adeline Smith, 95, dies - Adeline Smith, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal elder who played key roles in preserving the site of Tse-whit-zen village, the Elwha River dam removals and documenting the Klallam language, has died. Smith, who turned 95 last Friday, died Tuesday morning in Tacoma, where she was staying with family members, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said Tuesday afternoon.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Adeline Smith, cultural leader, dies at 95 - By the time Mrs. Smith died Tuesday at 95, she had helped the tribe publish its first written dictionary, train two generations of Klallam language teachers, and bring down two dams on the Elwha River to restore the salmon runs.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Federal court dismisses suit against Elwha hatchery; tribe drops nonnative steelhead stocking plan - A federal judge has thrown out a suit against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe�s hatchery plan, and the tribe has backed away from stocking the Elwha River with nonnative steelhead.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Weaving a tale of basketry in Clallam history series - For millenniums, the tribes of the Olympic Peninsula have been sharing and trading basketry styles and weaving techniques � and that tradition continues to this day. So said Jamie Valadez, a Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe member who was speaking on the subject as part of the Clallam County Historical Society's History Tales lecture series Sunday.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha dam work halted for water treatment plant update - The National Park Service last week awarded a contract for work to improve the Elwha Water Treatment Plant. Work is expected to begin shortly. The plant is one of several mitigation projects built to protect Elwha River water users from impacts associated with high sediment flows resulting from the removal of two dams on the Elwha River.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha River water plant upgrade to put dam removal on hold - Demolition of Glines Canyon Dam has been put on hold for an additional two months to give crews time to upgrade an industrial water-treatment plant on the lower Elwha River, Olympic National Park officials said. Removal of what�s left of the dam will resume March 31, with full removal expected later this year, months ahead of schedule.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Klallam dictionary opens window into tribal heritage - It weighs in at nearly six pounds, fills more than 1,000 pages, and represents the work of many hands and hearts. The Klallam people�s first dictionary for what was always an unwritten language was built syllable-by-syllable, from tapes and spoken words transcribed into a phonetic alphabet.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Klallam dictionaries signed Friday - The linguist who compiled the first extensive dictionary of the Klallam language will sign copies of it Friday (January 11, 2013). Timothy Montler, a linguist from the University of North Texas, will sign copies of the 1,008-page dictionary from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E. First St. The free book-signing is sponsored by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe to celebrate the December release of the dictionary. More than 100 elders of the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Port Gamble Klallam and the Scia'new First Nation of Vancouver Island, also known as the Becher Bay Klallam, helped Montler, who has been involved in documenting the spoken Klallam language since 1978.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha dam-removal project held back as silt estimate too low - It turns out the world's largest dam- removal project in history is even bigger than originally thought, as scientists discover an early mapping error of Lake Mills and learn the dams impounded even more sediment than first projected.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Testing the waters of the new Big Muddy: How scientists are surveying the Elwha River�s silt - A team of hydrologists from the U.S. Geological Survey dropped a rocket-like probe off the Elwha River bridge last week. State and federal agencies and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe are monitoring the effects of the sediment on fish and changes to the physical properties of the lower river and near-shore zone.

Lower Elwha Kallam: Tribe opens road with a blessing - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe blessed the opening of its long-awaited second access road to the reservation west of Port Angeles on Tuesday.

Lower Elwha Kallam: Native American artist shares story of Salish tribes with Lower Queen Anne artwork - Artist and storyteller Roger Fernandes created Snoqual/Moon the Transformer, a finished wooden construction that shares elements of a mythic story told by many local Puget Sound Salish tribes. Fernandes is a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the Klallam Indians from the Port Angeles area. Fernandes� work relates to art, language, ceremony and story. He tells Native American stories from this region for his tribe and other tribes of the Puget Sound area.

Jamestown S�Klallam-Lower Elwha Klallam-Port Gamble S�Klallam: Klallam people celebrate new dictionary - The hefty, 983-page book is important for the current generation, Laura Price told the crowd gathered Wednesday in the Port Gamble S�Klallam longhouse. The new Klallam Dictionary � celebrated at the gathering of Klallam people from Elwha, Jamestown and Port Gamble � holds the future of the language. And it holds a lot of history.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Groups go to court to fight release of Elwha River hatchery fish - Four conservation groups have ramped up their efforts to prevent the releases next spring of hatchery-bred steelhead and coho salmon smolts during the ongoing $325 million Elwha River salmon restoration project. The groups filed requests last week in federal District Court in Tacoma for a preliminary injunction and a partial summary judgment to prevent the releases, saying the plans should be reviewed for compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act, or ESA, and that they would harm species listed as threatened under the act.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribal hatchery transports first fish of fall to Elwha tributaries - A number of salmon are getting a helping hand to two of the larger tributaries of the Elwha River from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Fish Hatchery, where fish are taking refuge from increased sediment loads coursing down the river in the wake of dam removal.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Fish hide from heavy sediment flow in newly freed Elwha River - A rain-swollen Elwha River is now flowing freely for the first time in a century, triggering the first big release of some of the 20 million cubic yards of sediment stuck behind what�s left of Glines Canyon Dam. While scientists are giddy over the long-anticipated and well-planned flush of Lake Mills sediment, coho and chum salmon are ducking for cover since the river�s turbidity has spiked seven-fold since summer. �They�re headed to the closest clean water they can get to,� said Robert Elofson, river restoration director for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.

Lower Elwha Klallam: "She's all river now": No more reservoirs on the Elwha - With a big shot of dynamite, the last of Lake Mills drained through what's left of Glines Canyon Dam last week. There's still about 50 feet of the Glines Canyon Dam standing. But the last of the once 210-foot-tall structure will be gone by May. With the reservoirs gone, the landscape they covered is exposed. The gigantic stumps that stud the riverbank show the grandeur of the forests that were cut before the reservoirs were filled. The stumps document just how gigantic the trees in the virgin forest along the Elwha truly were. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has attached tiny numbered tags on the stumps and recorded their location to learn more about how big wood migrates in the river corridor. Large woody debris is a key piece of a healthy river. The big stumps, logs, and root wads trap gravel and create side channels and pools used by fish and other animals.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Second tribal access road nearly done - A second access road to the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation will be open next month, provided the three Clallam County commissioners agree to adopt a portion of it into the county road system.

Lower Elwha Klallam: The Lower Elwha Klallam - When more than two dozen Native American and First Nations canoes arrived on the beach in Port Angeles in July, as one stop on this year�s 20th annual Paddle Journey, representatives of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe met them. Each canoe leader asked permission to come ashore, and from the land, Elwha young and old extended the welcome. Who better than these people, whom we now know have inhabited this place for at least 2,700 years?

Lower Elwha Klallam: Port Angeles slates removal of park longhouse - The dilapidated longhouse in Lincoln Park needs to be torn down, Port Angeles city officials say, and the city is working with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe on plans to salvage the totem poles built as part of the structure. The city condemned the longhouse, built in the 1970s, at least 11 months ago and has since been developing a timeline with the tribe for taking the structure apart.

Lower Elwha Klallam-Quinault: Grants given to Quinault, Elwha tribes - Crime-prevention programs operated by the Lower Elwha Klallam will receive more than $1 million, while those of the Quinault tribe will get more than $500,000, the Department of Justice said. The Lower Elwha will get a total of $1,293, 271. The Quinault Indian Nation was awarded $561,732.

Lower Elwha Klallam: A first look at Elwha chinook - John McMillan, biologist with NOAA Fisheries Northwest Science Center is spending his fall in a way many would kill for: his job is to go out with other monitoring partners working on the Elwha River restoration, including Raymond Moses, fisheries staff from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to look for spawning redds and fish utilizing river habitat opened up by taking out the Elwha Dam last March.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Women remember road to renewal - On the first anniversary of the ceremonies marking removal of Elwha Dam last September, three Elwha Klallam women took time to reflect on another part of the story. Adeline Smith, 94, Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles and Klallam language teacher Jamie Valadez got together with filmmaker and biologist Shelly Solomon to talk about �River as Spirit,� the 30-minute documentary Solomon made about the Elwha.

Lower Elwha Klallam: What a difference a year makes: Elwha River dam removals ahead of schedule as project reaches first anniversary - A year after removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams commenced, restoration of the Elwha River is ahead of schedule � perhaps by as much as 18 months � and exceeding expectations on several fronts.

Lower Elwha Klallam: 'River as Spirit' to be shown at Rose Theatre - This movie, with its native script and green, serpentine stream, is no ordinary picture. �River as Spirit: Rebirth of the Elwha� is a blend of a helicopter flight over the mountains, a careful translation of the Klallam language � and a shared desire for a renewed Elwha River. �River as Spirit� is more river than words. There isn't a lot of talk. What narration there is is in Klallam, spoken by Lower Elwha Klallam tribal member Jamie Valadez.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Ecology meeting tonight on amending Rayonier cleanup - A newly routed Olympic Discovery Trail will wend its way about a mile near the northern shoreline of Rayonier Inc. property, following the path of piping that will be laid for the city's $41.7 million combined sewer overflow � or CSO � project. Heavy-equipment operators were working on the path this week at Rayonier as they demolished a bridge over Ennis Creek. Cultural monitors for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and city archaeologist Derek Beery are observing the work, since the mill site is above the remains of an ancient Klallam village.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Klallam health fair set August 23. 2012 - A health fair featuring a walk through a 20-foot-long inflatable colon is planned at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center today. The Lower Elwha Department of Emergency Management is hosting the Emergency Preparedness and Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tribal Center at 2851 Lower Elwha Road.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe ceremoniously welcomes salmon back into upstream river - Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe welcomed salmon back to the Elwha River during a ceremony Thursday morning. About 40 members of the tribe, based west of Port Angeles, assembled on the east bank of the Elwha River and thanked their creator for the annual return of the king salmon, also known as chinook salmon, which is one of seven species known to have spawned in the river.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Hopes soar as Elwha dams come down and salmon return - For 100 years, two hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River blocked fish from their spawning grounds, destroying one of the world's most bountiful salmon fisheries. Now construction workers have blasted the concrete dams, removed the rubble, and slowly drained the lakes. The river is once again running free, flowing from its headwaters high in the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Most thrilling of all is that the Chinook, Coho, Chum, Silver, and Sockeye salmon and the Steelhead trout have appeared above the Elwha dams for the first time in a century.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe to watch for artifacts at Port Angeles sewer overflow project - Cultural monitors from the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe will be on the lookout for artifacts and archaeological remains when piping for Phase 1 of a combined sewer and stormwater overflow project is laid on the former Rayonier pulp mill site, part of which is over an ancient Klallam village.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha tribe finds legendary creation site, wants uncovered land - Slowly emerging from what used to be under Lake Aldwell and Elwha Dam are some 1,100 acres of land with an uncertain future. When Congress authorized removal of the dam southwest of Port Angeles in 1992, the so-called project lands were to be set aside either for use as a state park, a national park or a national wildlife refuge, or be transferred to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. So far, the tribe is the only eligible party that has a plan and a desire for the land. That desire became even more intense last month, with the discovery of the tribe's creation site. Long passed on in oral tradition, the sacred site is where, by tribal teaching, the Creator bathed and blessed the Klallam people, and where tribal members for generations uncounted sought to learn their future.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe still waiting for money Congress promised - Tucked in the bill to restore the Elwha River ecosystem was $4 million intended to also help the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, passed by Congress in 1992, was more than a bill calling for restoration of the river. It also was a settlement, intended to satisfy the needs of the tribe, the dams' owner, the city of Port Angeles and a local pulp-and-paper mill that got power from the dams. But while other parties to the settlement all have been satisfied, the tribe is still waiting.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe named Conservationist of Year - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe is the Conservationist of the Year, according to the Society of Ecological Restoration�s Northwest Chapter. The award, announced earlier this year, was given to the tribe for its central role in the $325 million Elwha River Restoration Project, which includes the demolition of two dams on the river, and which is which is �clear, and well-recognized by other partners in the Elwha project,� said Allison Warner, chapter president. The award, while recognizing the entire tribe, specifically honors two people for their leadership in the project: Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles and Robert Elofson, river restoration director.

Lower Elwha Klallam: The Nation�s Largest Dam Removal - On Daybreak, Jeff and Dale talked with Barb Maynes, Public Affairs Officer, Olympic National Park about the nation�s largest dam removal happening right now on the Elwha River just west of Port Angeles, Washington. Spearheaded by the National Park Service and in partnership with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Maynes spoke about the Elwha River Restoration project and what it will accomplish: Reestablishing a Population; Restoring an Ecosystem; Renewing a Culture; Creating Economic Opportunities; and Replenishing a Coast because natural sediment flow from the mountains to the coast is being restored, rebuilding wetlands, beaches and the estuary at the river�s mouth.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Underwater Ecosystem Inundated by Sediment Plume - Scuba-diver scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, with support teams from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and Washington Sea Grant, are returning to the mouth of Washington�s Elwha River this week to explore and catalogue the effect of released sediment on marine life following the nation�s largest dam removal effort.

Lower Elwha Klallam: A River Newly Wild and Seriously Muddy - The Elwha River drains out from Olympic National Park, a pristine place in the world. And as recently as a year ago, the river looked the part: it babbled its final miles in water clear enough to see the bottom. Now it runs thick with grainy sediment the color of chocolate milk. But believe it or not, that is a good thing, or at least the roundabout result of one.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Dam gone, nature rebuilds Elwha River beach - Taking the dams out of the Elwha isn't only about allowing fish to come back up river to their spawning grounds for the first time since two dams were built on the Elwha without fish passage, beginning in 1910. The $325 million Elwha River ecosystem restoration begun last September is also about allowing wood and sediment to flow down the river from its watershed. The dams strangled the river's natural transport capacity, and hoarded the gleanings from its watershed in the dams' reservoirs: logs, root wads and other woody debris, and about 24 million cubic yards of rocks, sand, gravel and fine sediment.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Sun comes out to help welcome Canoe Journey paddlers to Port Angeles - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe welcomed more than a dozen canoe families from coastal Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island on Monday afternoon in a sun-drenched ceremony at Hollywood Beach. Young singers from the Elwha Klallam language program drummed and sang their welcome, while others waited to greet the new arrivals and help them pull their painted and carved canoes onto the sand. The canoes taking part in the 2012 Canoe Journey represented tribes and First Nations including the Queets, Quinault, Hoh, Quileute, Makah, Tla-o-qui-aht, Stz'uminus, Ahousaht and Tsartlip.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Banner blessing begins paddle journey season - A banner introducing the 2012 Canoe Journey was placed in Port Angeles on Sunday afternoon, with a ceremony performed by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe's singers, to kick off the journey season. More than 30 canoes are expected to arrive in Port Angeles on July 16 to be greeted by two canoes from the Elwha, and the banner at the Downtown Health Center, 240 W. Front St., announces the coming of the canoes. This year, the journey will end at Squaxin Island, near Shelton, on July 29.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe, DNR restoring former A-Frame site on Ediz Hook - A 1,200-foot stretch of Ediz Hook, a popular beach destination in Port Angeles, is undergoing habitat restoration this summer to benefit wildlife and people. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are restoring the popular �A-frame� site on the spit, a former log dump area that was used until the 1970s. It will be cleared of fill and existing structures during an eight-week construction period starting in June.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribal chair re-elected by 70 percent - Frances Charles has been re-elected as chair of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, a position she has held since 2005. Charles, 52, received nearly 70 percent of the vote in the election conducted May 26, said Brenda Francis, Lower Elwha communications manager. As tribal chairwoman, Charles has an influential voice with local, state and federal lawmakers. �My hands go up to my tribe for giving me this honor,� Charles said.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Spring Brings New Life To Washington�s Recovering Elwha River - There haven�t been salmon in the upper Elwha for almost 100 years. But that�s changing. Virgil Bennett and Gabe Youngman are down on their knees peering into a fish trap in a side channel of the Elwha. They�re members of the Elwha Klallam Tribe and work on fish restoration.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha River dam-related work vehicles wrecking county road, Clallam commissioners told - Lower Elwha Road is on the verge of crumbling because of a high volume of heavy vehicles in use for Elwha River restoration projects, Clallam County Engineer Ross Tyler has told county commissioners. The county arterial road provides the only access to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal reservation west of Port Angeles. It serves a new fish hatchery that was built as part of the $325 million federal project to restore the Elwha River to its natural condition. The road also is being used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve a dike on the lower reaches of the sediment-filled Elwha River.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Warm welcome planned for cruise ship in Port Angeles on Friday - Port Angeles is dusting off the red carpet to welcome cruise ship passengers when the ms Zuiderdam docks at Terminal 1 on Friday. Holland Cruise representatives will be greeted by a representative of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, who will grant ceremonial permission for the crew and passengers to disembark, said Mary Brelsford, communications manager for the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Lower Elwha council members re-elected - Edward V. Johnson and Anthony S. Charles were re-elected Saturday to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Council. Johnson received 91 votes, and Charles got 77 votes to be returned to their seats on the tribal council for a second term. The five council members serve for a term of three years, said Elaine McFadden, executive secretary to the council.

Lower Elwha �Klallam: Restoration work planned on Ediz Hook this summer - Habitat restoration is planned on a 1,200-foot stretch of Ediz Hook this summer. The Lower Elwha �Klallam tribe and state Department of Natural Resources will restore the �A-frame� site on the spit, a former log dump area that was used until the 1970s. It will be cleared of fill and existing structures during an eight-week period starting June 16.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Salmon revival in sight as Elwha River dams fall in U.S. Northwest - Tribal lore recalls that Elwha's five species of salmon were so plentiful that one could walk across the 50-foot-wide (15-metre) river, at the Elwha Dam site, on the backs of the fish. "Culturally, the salmon are very important to the tribe and in everything the tribe does," said LaTrisha Suggs, a spokeswoman for the 1,000-member Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha sediment not just mud, it's nourishment - Tribal members at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe's reservation in the lower river have for decades watched acres of their land simply wash away. They hope one day to see the erosion stop, and to harvest clams again from the beach, as their elders did. It will never be the way it was: construction of a water line in the 1930s along the beach armors the feeder bluffs that should build the beach. But turning the flow of sediment back on in the river will help. Comment: This problem is even worse in the Toutle watershed, where the Sediment Retention Structure erected following the eruption of Mount St. Helens has magnified the problem.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Hoko River salmon restoration proposed - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and Rayonier have proposed a partnership to restore salmon habitat on the Hoko River in the North Olympic Peninsula. The project would add nearly 2 miles of salmon habitat to the river, in conjunction with the Elwha River restoration project that is expected to add 70 miles of salmon habitat.

Lower Elwha Klallam: �River as Spirit' film premieres Saturday at Elwha Heritage Center - �River as Spirit: Rebirth of the Elwha,� a 30-minute documentary by Leaping Frog Films, will have its Port Angeles premiere at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at the Elwha Heritage Center, 401 E. First St. Admission is $7 for the general public and free for Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Cruise liner port of call: Port Angeles - A Holland America crew member stood above the stern of the ms Oosterdam and asked a group of Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members for permission to come ashore. �I'm glad that you arrived in Port Angeles,� Harmony Arakawa replied. �We're honored to share our songs and traditions with you. Come ashore!�

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha River back in its natural channel; first time in a century - At 7:30 Friday morning, contractors started shifting the Elwha River back into its natural channel. Within four to five days, the river will be fully back in its native channel -- for the first time in a century. Monitoring of out-migrating smolts, or baby salmon by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe so far shows that the young fish headed to salt water this season have been unaffected by elevated levels of sediment in the river, said Mike McHenry, habitat biologist for the tribe.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Fish debate needs time - A temporary truce has been called in the bid by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to introduce nonnative steelhead this spring in the recently restored Elwha River.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribal chair at D.C. conference - Lower Elwha Klallam tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles will participate today in a White House-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C., that will focus on the link between conservation and strong local economies, the White House announced Thursday.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwhas won't release hatchery steelhead this year - The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has agreed not to release any hatchery-raised steelhead into the Olympic Peninsula's Elwha River this year. The tribe is facing a lawsuit brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy and other groups arguing that the nonnative steelhead will hurt the recovery of protected native salmon once the river's two dams are removed.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe, Olympic National Park sued over hatchery fish on Elwha - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and Olympic National Park are being taken to court over the use of hatchery fish to kick-start restoration of the Elwha River's once-famous salmon runs. Four fish conservation groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Thursday challenging the use of hatchery fish, which they said undermines ecosystem recovery during and after removal of the river's two dams and violates the federal Endangered Species Act.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Suit filed to block hatchery salmon in Elwha River - Four environmental groups filed suit Thursday against Olympic National Park, two federal agencies and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, seeking to block restocking the Elwha River west of Port Angeles with hatchery-raised salmon as part of the Elwha dam-removal project.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Old tribal hatchery to be decommissioned - Plans are in the works to decommission the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe�s first fish hatchery. The hatchery, built in 1978, was replaced by a new one last May as part of the $325 million federal Elwha River restoration project.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Lead-contaminated soil found at Elwha Dam site - The National Park Service is working on a plan to remove lead-contaminated soil from the Elwha Dam site. Lead paint used on the dam�s penstocks, now removed, contaminated the soil on the north slope of the hill between the two channels of the Elwha River.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Outlook good on restoring salmon runs in Elwha River - After the dams are gone and sediment levels return to equilibrium, between 300,000 and 400,000 salmon will return to the pristine waters of the Elwha River, Lower Elwha �Klallam River Restoration Director Robert Elofson said. The new fish hatchery at the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the Department of Fish and Wildlife rearing channel will preserve the Elwha salmon from lethal sediment levels, Elofson said. Elofson said it will take three to seven years for the sediment in the river to reach a natural equilibrium.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Empire Of Dirt Gives Way To The Return Of The Salmon - John McMillan, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stands in a sheltered side channel of the Elwha...(and) points into the water nearby. It�s hard to see, but down in the gravel on the river bottom, a coho salmon has dug out a nest and laid eggs. McMillan and biologists with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe have found almost 100 other egg sacks like this one in the Elwha and her tributaries. Mike McHenry, a biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, says even though the parents of these eggs are from the hatchery, the offspring will grow up wild.

Lower Elwha Klallam: 'After the Dam' subject of presentation - Robert Elofson, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe river restoration director, presents "Elwha River Ecosystem: After the Dam" at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E. First St., Port Angeles. He will discuss the tribe�s view of the dam removal and what to expect in the future.

Jamestown S'Klallam-Lower Elwha-Port Gamble: Smiles abound as Kennewick welcomed - It is not just another ferry, as evidenced by the political and personal messages delivered when the MV Kennewick was officially welcomed Jan. 6 in Port Townsend. Community and political leaders from the Kennewick area of Eastern Washington are ecstatic to have the name on the newest state ferry. The new ferry also has been welcomed by the Native Americans of Washington who historically have used the inland waterways. Eleven musicians representing the Jamestown S�Klallam, Lower Elwha and Port Gamble tribes offered a blessing in the form of two traditional songs.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tse-whit-zen museum, curation center held up by dispute over three words - An impasse over three words in the 2006 Tse-whit-zen settlement agreement is holding up progress on building a curation facility and museum on Marine Drive, federal and tribal officials said. The agreement � signed by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, the city of Port Angeles, the Port of Port Angeles and the state Department of Transportation � brought "positive closure to a difficult and painful experience," Gov. Chris Gregoire said at the signing ceremony. But six years later, more than 67,000 Native American artifacts unearthed from 2003 to 2005 at the ancient Klallam village site � estimated to be some 2,700 years old � still need a permanent home. Development of a curation facility is at an impasse because the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs won't provide trust status for the site as long as a "subject to reversion" clause remains in the 2006 settlement agreement and the deed.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Atkins works on US river restoration project - A long-awaited element of a multi-stage plan to restore the ecosystem of the Elwha river in north-west USA has been completed, with the involvement of Atkins. The restoration project included the creation of a fish hatchery in order to re-introduce salmon and trout species to the river whose ecosystem has been severely disrupted by the presence of hydro-electric dams. The $16.4 million (�10.6m) hatchery will allow the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe in Washington state to restock the river.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Man arrested for tribal center crimes - Joseph L. Johnson, alleged to have burglarized the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal center and stolen a car Wednesday, was arrested Saturday at a Port Angeles convenience store. Port Angeles police, acting on a tip from the tribal police, arrested the 42-year-old Port Angeles man without incident.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Car stolen from tribal center found; suspect at large - Port Angeles police this morning found a Ford Focus stolen from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center�s parking lot two days ago. The vehicle, used by the Tribal Council, was found at the Welcome Inn Trailer & RV Park in west Port Angeles, Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said. Joseph L. Johnson, 42, allegedly stole the vehicle early Wednesday morning after attempting to assault a tribal employee with a screwdriver and running off with a camera, Smith said.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe to rebury skull found on beach near mouth of river - The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe plans to rebury a skull found on a beach near the mouth of the Elwha River. Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said the skull was found Monday afternoon by tribal members. It has been placed in a cedar box pending reburial. Bill White, tribal archeologist, said the skull belonged to a set of remains repatriated from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle in 1980 and buried near the river mouth. It was apparently unearthed through erosion, he said.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Armed burglar swipes car, electronics from tribe - Elwha police are searching for a suspect believed to be armed and dangerous after a burglary was discovered at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center Headquarters the morning of Jan. 4. Elwha police report the suspect took a General Service Administration vehicle and electronics. Six offices were broken into and ransacked.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Hope for Salmon as Dams Come Down - The largest dam removal project in U.S. history began in September, marking a victory for a campaign that spanned more than two decades. The dams were built across territory belonging to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, which had fished the Elwha for generations. The tribe fought for dam removal from the beginning, and was joined in its efforts in the mid-1980s by conservation groups including the Seattle Audubon Society, Friends of the Earth, Olympic Park Associates, and the Sierra Club. Together, they eventually forced a dam removal settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Removal of the dams will take about three years; experts believe fish will return to the upper reaches of the Elwha as soon as one year after that. Brian Winter, the Elwha project manager, estimates it will take a further 25 to 30 years for the river to return to its natural state.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Wireless Internet for whole city, Port Angeles City Council decides - The Port Angeles City Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday evening to a $3.7 million project that will turn the city into one large Internet hot spot, allowing residents and visitors to connect to the Web wirelessly from anywhere in town. The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, which will also receive a few wireless hot spots, will equip about eight of its police vehicles as well, said acting Police Chief Phil Charles. But connecting the vehicles to the network comes at a cost � $70 per month for each vehicle.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Clallam County program celebrates first Native American master gardeners - Celebrated as the North Olympic Peninsula�s first Native American master gardeners, tribal members Ruth Charles and Sheryl Charging Whirlwind were handed their badges last week.

Lower Elwha Klallam-Jamestown S'Klallam-Port Gamble S'Klallam: Ecology rejects Port Angeles' bid for seat on council assessing natural resource damages at former Rayonier site - The state Department of Ecology has rejected the city's request to be represented on a committee that is assessing natural resource damages inflicted on property occupied for seven decades by the Rayonier pulp mill before it closed.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Dam demolition to resume as fish window closes early - Demolition of the two dams on the Elwha River will resume earlier than expected. They had to quit dam removal work temporarily Nov. 1, the concern being that any further lowering of the two dams� reservoirs would harm fish through the release of sediment. An interagency team of biologists monitoring the return of fish to the Elwha River determined that the late fall runs of chum salmon had trickled to an end.

Lower Elwha Klallam: North Olympic Peninsula gets more than $4 million for salmon projects - The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board has given more than $4 million in grants to North Olympic Peninsula projects. Restoration planner Randy Johnson and his team at the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe deserve credit for their Washington Harbor Project, which was recognized as one of eight noteworthy projects by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board review panel, Baumann said.

Lower Elwha Klallam: December fish runs wind down on Elwha; dam demolition restarts Monday - Adult chum salmon were collected and transferred to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe�s fish hatchery, which is acting as a clear-water refuge during the dam removal period when extensive sediment is being released into the river. Offspring of the collected chum will be released into the river this spring.

Lower Elwha Klallam-Port Gamble S'Klallam-St�:lo-Yakama: Lower Elwha Gallery exhibit to showcase native art - The spirits of the native people of the Strait of Juan de Fuca will be unleashed in an art exhibit Saturday. Artists include Darrel Charles Jr., Roger Fernandes and Robert Francis III of the Elwha Klallam; Ivan Francis of the St�:lo tribe of British Columbia; Darryl Barkley of the Yakima tribe; and Jimmy Price of Port Gamble.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe hosts festive bazaar - The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe hosts its annual Christmas Bazaar from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, and from 10 a.m-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at the Tribal Center gymnasium, 2851 Lower Elwha Road, Port Angeles. The event includes jewelry, glass-works and many other gifts, as well as baked goods.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Two tribal officers commissioned in Port Angeles - Two officers with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police Department have been sworn in as special commissioned officers of the Port Angeles Police Department.

Lower Elwha Klallam: Washington tribe advances fish restoration work at Elwha and Glines Canyon dams - Tribe begins transferring coho salmon into Elwha River

Lower Elwha Klallam: Let's see your displays! Enter PDN's holiday lights photo contest

Lower Elwha Klallam: Data from largest U.S. dam removal could shape future river restoration, scientists say

Jamestown S'Klallam-Lower Elwha-Makah: High-speed Internet tapped for Peninsula by August 2013

Lower Elwha Klallam: Clallam County Drug Court coordinator earns award

Lower Elwha Klallam: Natives share cultural perspective at Port Angeles reading

Lower Elwha Klallam: Cake and all on �eTown' radio show

Lower Elwha Klallam: Flood, wind watches in place through Thanksgiving

Lower Elwha Klallam: Storm puts Elwha River, others under flood watch; heavy winds due to subside this afternoon

Lower Elwha Klallam: Road nearly finished; only 3,450 feet of route needs paving

Lower Elwha Klallam: Lower Elwha event to be feast of viewpoints

Lower Elwha Klallam: Indian voices to address Thanksgiving

Lower Elwha Klallam: McEntire headed for commissioner seat; Port Angeles councilman concedes in council race

Lower Elwha Klallam: McEntire�s lead nears 1,000 votes in Clallam County commissioner race

Lower Elwha Klallam: World's Largest Dam Removal Set to Restore Ecosystem

Lower Elwha Klallam: Scouts tour Elwha Dam site

Lower Elwha Klallam: Incumbent garners more than 60 percent in Port Angeles School Board race

Lower Elwha Klallam: Three incumbents, one challenger ahead in Port Angeles council races

Lower Elwha Klallam: City of Port Angeles seeks role regarding former Rayonier mill site

Lower Elwha Klallam: Elwha River Restoration project underway at Olympic National Park, USA

Lower Elwha Klallam: Giving voice to their tears and laughter: Real-life comic, tragic tales told at Elwha Heritage Center in Port Angeles

Lower Elwha Klallam: Tribe celebrates, works to help river recover