• Olympic: Three Parks in One

    Olympic

    National Park Washington

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  • Changes to Visitor Services Due to Sequestration

    Due to mandatory, across the board budget cuts, some visitor services at Olympic National Park have changed. See the Plan Your Visit section for more information.

  • Hurricane Ridge Road Closure for guard-rail work

    Tueday, June 18 (6:00 AM - 11:00 AM)

  • Olympic Hot Springs Road Closed

    The Elwha Valley's Olympic Hot Springs Road is closed to public entry beyond the Altair Campground during removal of the Glines Canyon Dam. Olympic Hot Springs is not accessible from the Elwha.

  • Elwha River Closures

    Boating is prohibited on the Elwha River between Upper Lake Mills Trail and Altair Campground.

Historic Range in the Elwha - Sockeye Salmon

Historic Range:
Since they prefer to spawn near lakeshores and tributaries of lakes, sockeye salmon had a much smaller range in the Elwha River than the other anadromous species. Historically, they would travel up the Elwha to Lake Sutherland and spawn along its gravel shores. The lake’s shoreline has the potential of supporting over 3,000 spawning fish. Construction of the Elwha dam made Lake Sutherland inaccessible to adults attempting to swim upstream. Fisheries biologists anticipate that "land-locked" sockeye, or kokanee, currently living in Lake Sutherland, will provide the source for new anadromous sockeye runs once the dams are removed.

Diagram:
—The red line represents the theoretical historic range of sockeye salmon in the Elwha River.

 
Historic sockeye
Historic range of sockeye salmon in the Elwha River.
 

Click here to learn more about sockeye salmon!

 
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This webpage was made possible in part by a grant from Washington's National Park Fund.

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