Dam Removal and the RV Park

RV Park owner happy about coming dam removal project

PORT ANGELES — The Elwha Dam RV Park is keeping its signature name — even though in three years, the Elwha Dam will be no more.

Bobbi Fuller, owner of the recreational vehicle park, is basking in the attention the project is receiving and can’t wait for the tear-down to begin Sept. 17.

“Our slogan is, ‘Best RV park by a dam site',” Fuller, 68, said last week.

“It will always be the site of the old dam, so it will still be the best RV park by a dam site,” Fuller quipped.

A major step occurs in the removal of the Elwha Dam and its sister edifice, the Glines Canyon Dam, at 8 a.m. June 1st when the dams stop providing electricity to the Bonneville Power Administration — in effect, eliminating their reason for being.

The intention of the $327 million Elwha River Restoration Project is to unblock the river, returning the river to its wild state, to bring back the waterway’s storied salmon run.

The 18-acre, 40-space RV park is at 47 Lower Dam Road in Port Angeles, and is adjacent to Olympic National Park, the Elwha River and Juan de Fuca Scenic By-Way Hwy. 112 where the lower of the two dams is located.

An overlook is planned near the RV park on Lower Dam Road so visitors can watch the 11-story dam being dismantled.

All of the coming activity doesn’t have Fuller worried in the least about losing business.

She has quite the opposite expectations. ONP assures her that the dam removal contract is written in such away that endangered wildlife will be protected from noise and commotion. “If it’s quiet enough for the Snail Darter and Spotted Owls it should be peaceful enough for our guests” Fuller says. “The Elwha Dam is getting worldwide interest,” Fuller said.

“People are coming to stay in the RV park to visit the dam before it’s taken down. Recent guests have hailed from the Netherlands, Quebec, Germany and France. The RV park abounds with mature trees, wild flowers, ponds, open spaces, and lots of wild birds and other critters. Large wood carvings adorn the grounds.

“It will be like the restoration of Mount St. Helens; the whole world watched the restoration after the volcano erupted. It will be the same thing with the Elwha Valley; restoring the river to its natural state and re-planting all of the native vegetation,” she said.

Fuller was born in Seattle and raised in Shelton.

“I grew up thinking the Olympic Mountains were my backyard,” she said.

She manages the RV park with her mother, Gladys Kemp, 90.

A former administrative assistant for the State of Alaska, Fuller was 58 and living in Wasilla, Alaska, when her mom called her with an idea.

Fuller’s mother said it was time for her to grow up, and come home, "I wanted to live with her,” Kemp recalled.

So she looked for a semi-retirement business “and found this lovely park,” she said.

“We consider this particular piece of ground to have some sort of magical essence,” Fuller said.

“It’s just a really peaceful, healing place to live.”

“This area is only going to get better with the dismantling the dam,” Kemp said, leaning forward on her elbows in the RV park office, smiling broadly. “ Just think of all the people who will come to see the 100 pound salmon in a few years. I can hardly wait to get out my fishing pole.”

“This is the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to this park and this community,” Kemp said.

The RV park has had a string of good fortune of late.

For the fourth straight year, the Elwha Dam RV Park won the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Local Business Association’s 2011 Best of Port Angeles Award in the recreational vehicle parks category.

That name just might be a little lucky.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

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