Barnard Construction Co. , Bozeman, Mont., won a $26.9-million contract from the National Park Service to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River in Washington State’s Olympic National Park. The firm’s bid was $13 million less than the engineer’s estimate. Site construction is set to start in September, with actual dismantling a year later. “With award of this contract, we begin the countdown to the largest dam removal and one of the largest restoration projects in U.S. history,” says Karen Gustin, park superintendent. The contract includes removal of the 108-ft-high Elwha Dam, completed in 1913, and the 210-ft-high Glines Canyon Dam, completed in 1927. The project is part of a larger $360-million push to have 70 miles of the Elwha River flowing freely by spring 2014, for the first time in 101 years. The job allots three years to allow the controlled release of sediment behind the dams.