"I am excited that those two Elwha River dams will begin to come down next year, and you should be excited too. It’s been a long time coming. After more than a century, the Elwha River will run free again and provide a good home for salmon.

Built without fish ladders about a century ago, the two dams cut salmon off from nearly 100 miles of excellent habitat. Today a lot of that habitat is protected in Olympic National Park, and that’s a good thing for the future of the river, the salmon and all of us.

The idea that those dams are really, truly coming down was driven home for me at the recent groundbreaking ceremony for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s new salmon hatchery. The tribe’s old hatchery has to be replaced because it sits in what will be the Elwha River’s new floodplain once the dams come down.

The new hatchery will be built during the next 18 months and will help support salmon and steelhead recovery efforts on the river. The tribe has a steelhead broodstock program that will make sure native Elwha River steelhead aren’t wiped out by the dam removal."

Get the Story:
Being Frank by Billy Frank Jr: Determination brings down dams, sets example (Indian Country Today 3/9)

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Billy Frank: Management key to salmon recovery (8/10)