"The Elwha Dam is gone. The Glines Canyon Dam is nearly gone. With the dams no longer blocking fish from their migratory route up the river, Chinook (king) and other species of salmon and trout are returning. Salmon fry began hatching above the dams early this spring and now biologists have spotted the first adult Chinooks.

"We knew this was going to happen and as I saw the fish roll, my heart jumped!" Phil Kennedy, lead fisheries technician for the Olympic National Park, said in a statement announcing the return.

He's certainly not alone in his enthusiasm. "If Elwha River ecosystem recovery has a poster child, it is this fish," Seattle Times reporter Lynda Maples wrote on September 17, 2011. "Bringing back the Elwha River kings, the most storied in Puget Sound, has been a rallying cry for advocates of dam removal for more than a generation.""

Get the Story:
The Elwha River Is Fit, Once Again, for Kings (Outside 8/22)

Related Stories:
People's World: Hopes soar as dams removed on Elwha River (8/13)
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe awaits return of more salmon to river (8/3)
Opinion: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe fought for removal of dams (7/27)
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe finds quick return of salmon to river (7/12)
KUOW: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe works to restore salmon runs (06/05)
Editorial: Temporary truce with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (03/06)
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to decommission old fish hatchery (02/06)
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe working to restore salmon runs (01/30)
Alternet: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe welcomes removal of dams (01/05)