Undamming a river, rebuilding a forest | WILD HOPE 

The most hopeful thing I have seen on the internet in a long time.

Congratulations on winning a hard-fought battle. Your people deserve to have your way of life restored.

congratz to the ELwah tribe finally having their river back

Then the reintroduction of Beaver into the smaller streams and tributaries will help hold water and build up the steady state watershed. It's such a great thing to see the region return to it's past health.

I live in Shelton 90 miles south of the Elwah. My county took out our small dam on Goldsborough Creek. This is no small undertaking. The habitat needs to be rebuilt. Many trees and native plants planted and replanted until they are well established. It was pretty ugly for awhile, but now I can walk a couple miles from my home and find wildwater; the best kind. I was honored to help with the restoration of Nalley Island on the Skokomish Land. Volunteers can really help make a big project smaller.

Progress is measured in many ways. Some consider the building of dams to be progress. Some consider their removal as progress. It fills my heart with joy to see these rivers, restored. To see the hard work of the lovers of nature, the salmon, the forests, and the wildlife thriving is wonderful. Jack

I've been to this place many times before and after the dam removal. I'd recommend people who visit Seattle make it a point to visit the area above the removed dams. It's amazing how quickly it's reclaimed itself.

I lived on the Oregon/Idaho border, where the snake river was the dividing line between the two states. As an Oregon resident the Salmon and Steelhead fishing was closed due to low returns, however Idaho kept the Salmon and Steelhead fishing season open due to their right to fish those fish regardless of the fish numbers decline. These efforts to take down the dams are the first step to restore the fisheries in the areas. The next step is to get All of the states to act as one in restoration. Washington state and Oregon state, and parts of California can't be the only ones to take the restorations seriously. Idaho also needs to be on board and restrict the fishing of these fish in order to fully restore the fisheries.

This is a great video on the importance of removing old technology that disrupted nature. Working with nature instead of against it is the only way humanity can continue to grow. The narrator is excellent, very smooth voice.

Was forest biologist forOlympic National Forest during fight to remove dam. Sooo happy to see this marvelous portrait of habitat rejuvenation. Awesome opportunity for intensive monitoring to spur future dam removals.

Very inspiring! I'm hopeful that after the four dams on the Klamath River are removed the benefits will be positive as well. Next hopefully are the dams along the lower Snake River.

Thanks to the People who Fought to Remove the Dam and allow the River to Heal and Flow once more!!

I hope to see the snake river dams come down in my lifetime.

So inspiring! I used to work on the Salmon River in Idaho, which is part of the Columbia River drainage. There's a salmon restoration project underway there too, and I hope the dam removals downstream come to pass so Idaho can become truly rich in nutrients and fish again!

Really amazing to see the rapid change to the river and the benefits brought to the wildlife! And it's great to see my backyard being shown here.

Love seeing how much it has changed. I was out there a couple years after the dams were removed and it's fantastic to see how much it has changed and grown!

Bio-diversity keeps all things alive.

I've been following this story since the beginning. It is so awe inspiring to see all of the changes! Undaming the Snake River would be a miracle!!

I grew up in area and remember the debates/arguments we had in high school, the early 80's, and all the nay sayers. Their biggest argument against dam removal was that "it would never recover, so just let it be." Nature will find away if just left alone. Since the removal the Elwha Clallam have had a resurgence of pride for who they were, are and will become as a group.

Having the insight to do the right thing is refreshing and gives all Americans hope for a healthier future...

DOES bring tears to my eyes!!!!!

I'm closely tracking the Klamath dams removal near me; this video is the most inspiring thing I've seen. Thank you!

Bravo to all who worked on this and best wishes for the tribe.

I like how so far in this series, each episode focuses on a creature classified as a keystone species. So far, the Red Woodpecker, Beaver, and now Salmon. Incredible.

The River is our lifeblood. 🌎🌊🌲🔥🌪 ❤️

This makes my cry with enthusiasm for our salmon, salmon are indeed our miners canary, they go extinct we go extinct, nothing but praise for your efforts. GODS SPEED.

Excellent program! Thank you❤️

Greatest I have ever seen on RU-vid. Almost brings tears to my eyes. WONDERFUL. Get rid of all the dams.

This is a beautiful documentary and I hope many people view this. Years ago I saw the first pictures that were taken of Native Americans who lived on the River and the Salmon that were their lives. The pictures had been colorized and the red Salmon meat drying in the sun seemed to be miles long. It truly was a spectacular sight. The Salmon are the ecosystem. Salmon DNA was found in the trees from Bears who leave the half eaten fish to decay in the soil. The return of Salmon will bring the return of wildlife. Every thing will change and this is the Earth healing. The Dipper birds are fascinating. They dive into the coldest water and "fly" through the strongest currents to feed. Watching the dam blow up was awesome. Imagine the feeling that gentleman had pushing the detonator!!! Kinda envious 😅 I hope that in ten year's time or so, another documentary update is made on the River and its' ecosystem. Thank you for this documentary ‼️🥰

So cool to see what nature does when allowed to recover.

What a wonderful inspirational story. Well done to all those involved in the recovery and healing of the land and river.

I never knew about dam removal. Thank you fore educating me.

The 190 million beavers removed from the system since european introduction has had a dramatic effect on the strength and robustness of our wetland environments. Natural vs man made dams are anight and day went talking about the ecology they support.

It's good to see native peoples (who weren't consulted, moved off their land and are traditionally marginalised) get their rivers back and to see nature being restored

Its so nice to see this heartwarming story in these dark times.

Having grown up in Washington, I have seen the salmon populations returning in limited numbers but the work is not done. Seattle City light is fighting local tribes to keep many dams in place. I hope the local tribes can overcome these companies.

Hiked this basin before and after. Some dams have benefits that can balance the costs, but not on the Elwah. The mouth of the river has been completely transformed for the better.

I'm so happy for the people who started this and made it a huge success. It was a great education for me as well. I love smoked salmon and used to catch limits of 3 often. As a community of people who have counted on the salmon for generations to see this completed must be a dream come true. I'm so happy for them.

Nature knows it has champions fighting for it. Good job folks!

Amazing restoration! I’d like to see more information on ecologically friendly hydroelectric production as a source of non fossil energy.

I grew up here, and am fascinated to see the changes. It gives me such hope.

Wonderful information for all! Many thanks👏

Thanks Nature on PBS 👍

Loved this. Thank you for filming and telling this important story. So interesting and hopeful!

Beautiful! Thank you! Blessings.

I love this series, lets us know if we work together, trust scientists and indigenous peoples' and realize that humans cannot control nature but can nurture and assist it, anything is possible. It all seems so hopeless most of the time and any optimism seems quaint and almost naive but seeing this series is great to see REAL possible change for the better with quantifiable results, metrics that prove the results. Hope without logic is just a dream, to combine hope with work, logic and community is where hope becomes reality. Everything is impossible until it's not.

This is an amazing story and a great accomplishment, yet it is just one (large) step in the restoration of the river. The streams and creeks that feed the river must also be protected and restored, allowing beavers to create dams and wetlands that will feed fresh water to the river during the drier summer months. If we are serious about restoring rivers and fish, we must protect and preserve our rivers from the headwaters to the sea. The cost of this will be extremely high, but the benefits will far outweigh the costs.

THANK YOU

I love birds and all animals ❤❤❤❤❤❤

this is awesome! i live in new hampshire and my town voted last year to remove a dam that was installed in the 1600s, i'm so excited to see the effects it has on the environment. atlantic salmon populations have been in decline for centuries here so hopefully they'll have a similar restoration story to those in the pacific northwest!

It’s good to study them and focus on good things

in BC, and BC Hydro has more than 80 dams across the province. in my Town: Campbell River has 3 on the same river alone. With the technology we have in this day and age, we dont needs dams for Hydroelectricity, Flow generators, and tidal flow generators are producing as much or more power than dams from the days past.

Your ancestors are supporting and holding space for your dedication, determination to make manifest into the next now successful ❤ A'ho 💦

May God bless all whom protect and free the spirit of nature 😇🧚‍♂️

I grew up on the Kitsap Peninsula. I hiked the Olympic Press Trail when I was a kid in the early '80's. We ended up at Elkhorn on the Elwah. Some beautiful country.

i grew up in northern Washington I've been there when the dam was still there...I'm so happy to see it gone...not the rest of them need to be taken down.

That Bird is so awesome.

I wish it was this simple where I live, here we have pollution killing our river and our eels (basically what salmon are to you) my great grandfather used to survive off the river back when we still lived in simple dirt huts but sadly later in life when eels already almost all disappeared and pollution was at its highest (the 70's) it was also what killed him, he died of a rare type of cancer.

*Nothing is more beautiful than untouched natural landscapes* - not even Gucci purses (sorry that was an insult and bad joke) 😍😍

Thank you! I really enjoyed getting to see and learn about this beautiful part of the United States that I have never visited. God blessed us with a beautiful country, a beautiful planet, and the life He created in it will thrive and renew itself if we just give it a chance.

This is so powerful and beautiful,its making me cry with joy!💗☺️💗☺️💗

"I feel like I'm at home" I love you all so much. Hugs

Dam,I have to agree 💯 with what was said and done. I really hope they continue to remove other unnecessary dams and help revive more of the ecosystem.

I feel that schools should talk about this subjects to the students to engage them in biology science and animals and the marine life❤❤❤❤❤

I was feeling incredibly despondent today and this episode gave me hope, thank you!

I was reminded of a grad student I knew at Oregon State who was working to sequence the DNA of salmon in all the rivers that flow from the Coast Range. He was involved over an argument between fishermen and conservationists: in a river that was being restored the fishermen wanted salmon brought in from hatcheries to repopulate rapidly while the conservationists wanted the native salmon to repopulate naturally. His work showed just how genetically distinct the populations in different streams were, including all the tributary streams, which enabled the wildlife people to start a program of the different hatcheries propagating not just whatever population they could easily get eggs from but keeping the offspring from each stream separate and always taken back to the stream they came from.

It is not just about restoring the ecosystems, but the energy of the humans will definately change for the better due to the positive clean waterflow through the river being restored.

It’s so gratifying to see these dams come down and these ecosystems being restored. I remember watching the documentary DamNation when it first came out. That documentary first informed me about the catastrophic impact dams caused to fish and wildlife. I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years since then. I’m really hoping more dams come down and more ecosystems are restored.🌲🐟🦌

I live blocks away from the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. We have three lock and dams that are still owned and somewhat operational by the US Army Corps. They are in the process of deciding what to do with them since barge traffic is no longer coming up this far in the river. Our situation is different than the Pacific Northwest, since we don’t have the keystone specie migration up here. Actually, the dams and St. Anthony falls are serving an important function keeping the invasive Asian Carp out of the more northern stretches of the river. We also have a couple of modest sized hydro power facilities on the dams. I canoe and kayak these waters and am conflicted over what is to be done. Whatever is decided, I hope it’s the best thing for the ecosystem, long term. The progress in the PNW in dam removal is just so wonderful, I’ve watch a number of these documentaries and it is amazing to see nature restores its self when given the chance. I’m also so happy for the native communities that have their heritage restored. Folks are working on similar programs with the bison here in Minnesota, though they are tiny compared to the historic range of the animals.

the earth, environment we live in today - we’re not gonna pass/inherit them to the next generations, it’s we - we borrow them - so we must return them in a good conditions to the next generations👍🏾 that’s the mindset we must have now and I am glad I found this documentary❤ thankyou💐☘️🐟🦌

❤Incredible work! I hope more dams will be removed and we can help return nature to her former glory.😊

So excited to see dams coming down so salmon and other animals and plants can return! Put the First Nations in charge- they will lnow what to to to heal the land!🙏❤🙏

Love this. Undamn the rivers! It just makes me more excited for the Klamath and Eel rivers dam removals! The first of the Klamath's four dams has already come down, with the rest scheduled for 2024. Dismantling the Potter Valley project dams on the Eel should start in a few years, as soon as Sonoma can bring itself to let go of some of its free water and bureaucracy does its thing. Still, there is an end!

I'm happy to see habitat restoration and re-wilding. I wonder though how the region plans to make up for the electricity generation that was once provided by the dam.

Bravo, BRAVO!!

the hard part is over, now it's time to watch the rewards of the efforts grow back

Salmon is life

amazing, good work!

Beautiful. Well done people of nature. Human greed is travesty .i don't understand how people can want to leave their offspring money but no nature, no real life. Dreadful way to think.

It's amazing the power of nature, that after a hundred years of abuse and neglect that in just ten years it's recovered/recovering so quickly.. All dams need to be removed for the sake of all living creatures and vegetation, including us.

Ahhh man, I am so excited and so happy that this is happening! I mean don't get me wrong dams had their place back in the day but it's definitely time for them to go. Thank you for making and sharing this content °~•.☆.•~°

Good stuff!

There’s hope for humanity yet.

Excellent video and I'm glad to have seen Elwha before, and soon to see it now, hopefully this spring.

I have heard that the salmon run is crucial to the forest ecology. The bear and eagles take salmon for food and the carcasses are scattered all over the forest floor fertilizing the forest. You say, "how can that be significant?" But realize that the Sahara desert sends dust to Florida every year, or at least most years except for La Nina. These atmospheric events move material across whole oceans. Now how is that significant? But it is.

Seeing the river restored is a beautiful thing. Good work. Question, with the loss of all that electricity generation capacity, how do you plan to charge all those electric cars you are insisting on?

I am looking forward to the Columbia River to be restored...Noisy Waters.

Thank you for sharing this inspiring video ❤

You realize the Colombia River is the most radioactively polluted river in the US? The Hanford site had nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the more than sixty thousand weapons built for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Wonderful ❤️

It’s a shame we Americans didn’t listen and learn from the American Indians prior to building these dams. It’s great that we finally understand and are fixing these rivers. We are opening up Klamath river in CA too. 😎🤙

Awesome for for All people.

Thats so beautiful to see🤗❤

Being a woman in my late 50s raised in the desert, I was watching with great trepidation as they said they are going to examine the dippers diet. Then they found a critical male helping to positively evolve the ecosphere and said they were going to bleed him. 😮. I am glad I hung on to see their definition of bleeding and mine are very, very different😅.

Fantastic...well done

In a way I’ve got to explore the west coast, camping along most of the rivers and streams, photographing the waterfalls I understand the need for fisheries, also 37 million people live in California, we’re prone to 5 year drought then 2 years of rainfall, at least that’s the way I’ve seen it living near the Sacramento River for seventy five years. How do we save water behind dams or how do we destroy the dams to restore the fisheries, how does all work with 5 western states work together as one. When California’s Central Valley provides food for most of the U.S.?

I like how PBS shows a shot of daisies that are invasive to the west coast right after the woman says "how our lands have been healing" 😂

Excellent doku!

amazing documentary, loved this

Great story!