Undamming

It was another odd job brought us to Olympic Peninsula, Wa; cameras maintenance for the largest dam removal project (two Elwha Dams) in history. The Elwha Ecosystem restoration project is also the second largest restoration project the National Park Service has ever attempted, after the Everglades (right here in Florida). PBS made a very nice documentary broadcasting tonight. It shows how the dams had impacted people, salmon and the environment for the last century , and how the undamming will change the future. It is heart broken to see salmon trying to go upstream, but was blocked by the dam. What intrigue me the most is the process of the undamming (physically, not talking about it took the government 20 years to get it's acts together). You cannot just blow it up. Remember all the slit - (a hundred year of heavy sediment behind the dams) and people live downstream. It's three long year slow process, and got to ensure there is no slit go down the river while salmon are spawning downstream.

It's not easy to undo a century of regret. It's still uncertain that after all, different salmon will come back upstream to make Elwha its home again.