...and the dams came tumbling down

Can we really undo damage and restore rivers and fish?

We'll find out when the Elwha dams come down in 2008.

Once home to swarming runs of legendary HUGE salmon, Washington's Elwha River is now pristine except for 2 nearly useless dams and their relativley small lakes.

With no way past the dams, the remnant salmon runs are forced to exit the river at a hatchery instead of crashing upstream through the many miles of Wilderness streams that await above, empty of salmon.

Common sense says take them out, and amazingly our political system has gotten us there. So unlike the more typical pork, perks, and pet projects.

If restoration can work anywhere, it can work here. Our future awaits us in the upper reaches of the Elwha.

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