PORT ANGELES – The target date for beginning the removal of two dams on the Elwha River has been moved back again.

The project to clear the river of the dams won’t begin in 2009.

But when it will begin is uncertain.

Construction of two water treatment plants, which is necessary for the Elwha River dams removal project, is set to begin later this year.

Dams removal won’t begin until after the plants are built, something that could take as long as five years, said Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokesperson.

A five-year construction period would move initiation of dams removal to 2012.

But that is not a firm date, said  Maynes.

“We’re backing away from a firm timeline,” Maynes said Wednesday.

“We’re at the point where we’re moving from planning and design to the construction and contracting phase,” she said.

“It’s like any big project. It’s easy to have a timeline when you haven’t started the project.

“But when the project begins, details come to light. There are lots of unknowns.”

The 108-foot Elwha Dam at 541 Lower Dam Road, about eight miles southwest of Port Angeles, was built in 1913, creating Lake Aldwell.

Glines Canyon Dam, 210 feet high and eight miles up river from Elwha Dam, was built between 1925 and 1927 and created Lake Mills.

The 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act authorized the removal of the two dams to restore salmon runs.

Restoring the salmon habitat in the river is a goal long sought by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and environmental groups since the beginning of the dams’ relicensing process in 1968.

The two dams were bought by the Department of the Interior in February 2000 to begin the process.