The White Salmon River after Condit dam | Oregon Field Guide 

As a lifetime fisherman and conservationist I realize the countless benefits the dams provide to our region but there is some primal emotional response to seeing a dam removed, like you are setting free a wild animal that has been kept in a cage for 100 years.

A lot of people commenting who either do not know about this project or are Northwestern Lake property owners. Pacific Power, the owner of the dam, did a cost-benefit in the 90s and decided to take the dam out because it cost more to maintain than it would ever make in power sales. The original opponents were the Tribes because there hadn't been enough planning for wildlife protection. When the studies were done and the protection and mitigation measures were put in place, the Tribes signed off. Then it was time for the Northwestern Lake property owners to block it every way they could. They couched it in terms of "protecting our cherished way of life," but in reality they knew if Condit was removed, their lakefront properties would no longer have lakefronts. Put bluntly, they wanted Pacific Power and its customers to go on subsidizing their property values. They lost, and the dam was removed. As for water storage, if you want an effective reservoir, you put it up in the mountains where gravity can assist the pipelines, not down at 300' above sea level.

I had to watch this a second time because it's such a beautiful river that is healing after the dam removal. I hope the salmon recover and the trees, plants and shrubs planted continue to thrive and grow along the river. Thanks for the video OPB.

Really beautiful videography, particularly the aerial shots. It’s fantastic to see how an ecosystem can recover after a dam is removed.

A beautiful story and full of hope for a local river! So good to see a triumph for Good Old Mamma Nature!

Amazing restoration job; only 10 years on and you'd never know the dam had ever been there. More like this please!

Roseburg, Oregon is my home town.. been all over the state!!! It's beauty is sometimes paralleled, but rarely exceeded.... I love it when ever I'm able to go back.....

Beautiful river 👍...nice to see nature coming back

Thank you for this follow-up video. I think it's important to see how our larger recent environmental changes have affected the area, and how nature is adjusting. Great to see all of those newly planted trees doing so well!

I am the only person I know that has ever "inner tubed" the entire stretch of river from top down to the lake (in fact I did Husum Falls 2x ). Used heavy wetsuit, dive fins, gloves, and a helmet. Now I'd love to go back and try to do the whole thing again, but this time make it to the Columbia River where the slack water starts. Water is extremely cold

had a rafting trip there before the dam removal. It was my first white-water rafting trip and the most memorable. would like to go there again some day.

I love watching nature repair itself. 🙏🏼❤️

A wonderful program. A compelling story that needed to be told. Nice to hear some good things we're doing for our planet. Thanks for this effort and the fine results. Maybe more restoration projects will be inspired by this story.

Now for the rest of the dams!!! 🐟🐟🎣🚣‍♂️

Beautiful story- so thankful the White Salmon is wild & free again!

I watched the destruction of the dam on OPB, but I didn't know much about how the river had recovered until now. It's beautiful! And it will get better from now on.

So grateful for OPB and Oregon Field Guide. This video was delightful--I appreciate that the topic was looked at from multiple perspectives, and especially the segment with Yellowash Washines. Thank you for including the perspective of local tribe members.

Great report…beautiful river…thanks…

Well done video. I'm curious to know more about the evolution of the sediment in the first year or two, and what kind of mortality did the river life experience. I guess that would have been a bummer to talk about.

"Mountain in the Clouds", an eighties book written about the early builds of NW dams and the search for the wild salmon, was the first hardcover I bought since junior college. My bro still his it in his library. It tells the tale of early dam permits in the NW that destroyed MORE salmon value than the electricity it created. But fish are free. Electricity you can control and sell.

I have a home near Husum Falls, and was there when the dam was breached. It was closed to the public to view,but shorty after the blast,many y dogs and I would drive up the logging roads and walk down and see the large chunk of earth falling off. When it was save enough to walk where Northwestern Lake used to be/was/is an amazing sight to see.

What a feel-good video, I've been down the white salmon a few times before the dam removal, what a beautiful river to raft on. I'm so glad they finally removed that god forsaken dam. The salmon thank you too!! Thanks for the video, brought back some fond memories.

Such a gorgeous river. Watching the built up silt come out when they took the dam down was incredible.

I have been there once and I'm looking forward to going back its so beautiful up there

They dammed the Dolores river in CO. back in the 80s. I was lucky to have spent a week long trip on the Delores a year before that happened.

Read Mountain in the Clouds: the search for wild salmon. (I have the hardcover from the early eighties). A Seattle -Intelligencer reporter and Oberlin graduate . It calculates that the private and public dams built on ONE variance from a Federal official that didn't even have the POWER to authorize these builds (1890 to 1910) destroyed MORE Salmon and fish value that the electricity they created. BUT you can control and charge forHydro. Fish arrive and are free.

This makes me happy. Yes we need dams. But we also should want natural salmon runs again

A list of ideas that might help. Fish Runs saving Dams and Water Shortages Update 7/4/2021 Do you have a nearby moving river or stream? You can now place a slow speed water generator on the bottom of the stream and make power 24 hours a day. The unit is called a Waterotor made in Canada. The Waterotors won't harm fish and can be scaled up to meet the needs of small towns or cities. Make the power miles away from the small town, sell the power to the power company than use the power to make water anywhere. Atmospheric water generators can make drinking water and irrigation water, and with a Waterotor, power can be made even in remote regions of the World. You just need moving water 3 to 4 miles an hour in streams, irrigation channels, fish ladders or even waste water outlet's. Garbage treatment plants can also use the power they make burning garbage to make water with atmospheric water generators and add storage tanks to supply small towns and cities. Adding Waterotors below dams can maximize electrical power made by any dam and replace power lost if the dam has a fish ladder or channel for fish to move up and down stream. A dam can be saved for flood control by adding these powered fish ladders and channels or notching the dam and putting in a flood gate to raise and lower the river during fish runs. Now people and fish can share the river. Note using the methane from sewage treatment plants or garbage landfills might be used to generate electricity for any water making projects. You might use your own City sewage system to make filtered irrigation water for lawns and gardens they have a system like that in my my small town. Note, what to make even more power? Then by covering fish ladders and channels with spaced solar panels decreases evaporation of the water and increases the efficiency of the solar panels. A now overdue idea, dealing with forest fires. You build and place atmospheric water generators and 100,000 to 5,000,000 gallon water tanks on hilltops to protect your town. You cover the tanks with solar panels and add wind turbines to make power anywhere. You sell the power, drinking water and irrigation water, then by adding irrigation pipes down the hillsides, you can create fire lines that lasts up to 24 hours. You make these fire lines by adding TetraKO, by Earth Clean at a 4 to 6 percent solution to the water. Turn on these stand alone units remotely, your fire trucks can work elsewhere or resupply themselves with needed water. Fire protection, drinking water, irrigation water and stand alone power for any city or town in need. Here again, Waterotor generators could be used to generate power for the hilltop water making units. These ideas all can be done today, just search RU-vid, and then tell someone.

Wonderful news to hear the White Salmon River is free flowing again, The Great Spirit and our Mother earth is shining with joy And Our Metis French/Cree Ancestors are smiling too.Maarsii Maarsii

I wanna know what the confluence with the Colombia looked like with all that silt joining it.

Looks great good seeing it run free as it should be

Beautiful exciting experiment. Snake river dams are next. I am concerned those reliant on the power and dam infrastructure will suffer. The pace of removals may exceed our ability to lesson the social and economic impacts on people. Change is always a double edged dilemma.

I grew up just a bit west (on the Little White Salmon) so it is cool and nostalgic seeing this

What about the loss of property value to the home owners with beachfront property ? Just Kidding, I don't give a shit.

Thanks for sharing!! So beautiful would love to go down that river

I grew up fishing Northwest Reservoir and I have so many great memories of that place. Times change and hopefully the river will be a benefit to those who wanted it removed. I still close my eyes and remember how beautiful the lake was.

Really nice project. Great doc.

Awesome, now send a crew down to Southern Oregon and give us a update on the rogue river please

I almost bought one of those cabins in the late 2000s. Cheaper at the time. Kinda kicking myself that I didnt. Sure, I would have eventually lost a lake but gained a cool river.

This is an old video, has there been an update?

The Kenai river in Alaska had a 2/5 King salmon(2 years fresh, 5 years ocean Chinook down in WA). They had 90lb fish being caught by rod many years ago. The sport guiding business gradually wiped out those 90 pounders since that was always a fish you would put in the boat.

Looks like it was a good for the local economy plus the river looks beautiful now. Maybe something like this could encourage other communities to follow suit?

Awesome!!

The videos of the spawning adult salmon showed some had no adipose fins. Were they from hatcheries? Just asking!

Awesome video!! Thank you for sharing the progress! Nice work!

I’ve paddled them former dam section. Very fun.

How was the electricity replaced?

would that also work for the colorado river?

id love to see a follow up on this a number of years from now , like a decade.

Love it, hope the fish come back like crazy

Wonderful! Now you just have to save the Pacific!

i love to see 'em getting rid of hydro-electric power. in favor of more dirty options like windmills.

Am happy for You people,. The river is now what it was meant to be Free

Great to see that Salmon and Steelhead have returned(at least I hope Steelhead have returned too).

That was my favorite river to run in the state. Long drive from Seattle, but worth it. Would have loved to been able to do the lower part, but the dam was in the way, and Hussium Falls was the take out then.

Beautiful River unt Setting

Seriously though - What about the people who had lakefront real estate? Were they compensated when their property values were decimated? Does their new property line go all the way to the river so at least they now have "riverfront" property?

Where my spot is, it’s basically considered headwater I think. Mostly a creek from slow springs. Im just wondering if there was once Salmon in these areas and some natural catastrophe stopped it? I would like to see what would happen if a few thousand Salmon minnows were released here. All I have now are white sucker fish.

That’s awesome 💯👌🏽

Great story , cheers from Oz

Outstanding!

What happened to the animals and plants that had moved into the lake area? Trout? Other fresh water fish? Deer, elk?

I love dams but removing them is the right thing to do. Look at that beautiful river!

Pure awesomeness

you would think it makes sense to first target the dams on tributary river downstream of Bonneville to create a complete dam free path?

How Wonderful ! Thx to. All the Folk that made this happen ! 🇺🇸☮️🕊🦊

Any news on the dust conditions for the old lakeside residents?

[T/F] Some of the salmon would have to have been 'explorers' since the age of the dam would have eliminated the initial salmon cycles. Glad to see the fish coming back. How long after dying are the fish edible?

I like Yellowwash's perspective of the dams removal. There are hundreds of dams all over Oregon or Oreconcent

bet there is some gold moved around after that

Great story. Did anyone else notice the salmon trying to jump the falls at 3:18 in the video? It’s where the kayakers are falling in..

It's a gigantic lab experiment. The data collected here will be invaluable for future dam removal projects.

golly! way to go... joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea joy to you and me

So much love for this.

What about the fish in the lake?

But are there fish to come back?

That place is beautiful

Did the salmon come back

The largest project is the Columbia River and the snake river. Hope the awhee is next and so to return another at least 500 miles of unobstructed water to Idaho and nevada.

The White Salmon is such healthy river that the dam removal was a push. Where the salmon spawned was from the mouth of the river down to the fish hatchery, so when Bonneville dam was built the spawning area was gone. Condit dam had been built twice before with a fish ladder but both dams blew out in the respective winters. The 3rd dam built in 1912 didn`t have a fish ladder. Instead they built raceways around a mile up from the mouth of the river. The dam became the battle ground because it was the first of, I believe, 5 dam projects PP&L has/had in OR and WA and would set precedent for concrete dam removal. On a side note, the PP&L dams on the Klamath river are the ones that really need to go, but I digress. We were indeed very concerned about the contents of the lake and what it would do to the lower section. We were very surprised, in a good way, with what happened. It should also be mentioned that the recovery work done where the lake was has also been a pleasant surprise, hats off to them. I think the biggest peril the White Salmon faces now is being loved to death.

Most salmon get picked up in the ocean. Not rivers. People over regulate river when 70% of the fish died do to over fishing in international waters by Chinese, Japan and south korean.

Anyone else notice the fish jumping the falls @ 3:17 ? Looks like a steelhead or coho.

America, getting smart and doing the right thing...

That's the beauty of hydro electric with a little help from man ( removing the dam ) mother nature had fixed itself to bad for the home owners but this seems better than dealing with the storage of radioactive waste. NIMBY.

Yeah! Woo hoo! Free that river! Great video!

Anybody know why they chose to destroy the dam in such an apocalyptic way? Why not first drain the lake slowly? Let me guess, it would have costed more?

It took 3/4 of the video to get to the important "why's" they were doing this and the final result. The first 3/4 of the film is rehashed and drawn out.

Helping save the salmon you conduit!

Wow perfect

Nice to fix one river. Too bad pretty much every other river in the area is currently damned, some of them in multiple places. Seattle and Portland use a lot of water and power.

I was glad to see the dam removal. However, the narrator of the video and possibly others involved apparently cannot do arithmetic. They stated that in some years before the dam removal there was not enough water in the river for rafting. This is as if to say that the dam was using up some of the water. When the fact is that all the water that ever entered the dam flowed through or over the dam. So now that the dam is gone, there will still be dry years for the White Salmon River.

"countless benefits the dams provide ": itemize 10 please. The color of the upstream water opaque turquoise, How does that occur?

Humans can learn, we can endeavor in harmony, earth is a paradise, if we can see it…

Trying to understand why the presence of the dam would produce low water below it.. Or is this just suggestive propaganda ? If there is no diversion of water to other areas, then the water that flows in ...would have to flow out. Meaning that there would be low water coming in in the first place. Naturally creating low water going out below the dam. But the video doesn't want you to think that far, when they say the water below the dam is low.

Im so in love thank you 💘

I miss my home state of Oregon. I moved to Florida when I was 16 in 1998. Florida sucks! But it is cheaper to live.

good job

Why was the dam built in the first place? power production? How do you replace that power?

While this, on its face, seems fresh and cool, the tribes will now struggle to keep their lovely salmon harvests cool in their refrigerators, because there is less electricity to use for everyone. Seeing the "salmon smile" might be quaint, but so is having to process the food in 24 hours or less when you are processing a huge amount to feed a large tribe of hungry folk.

Salmon and steelhead still haven't found a way to swim past the nets.