Rivers Gone Wild! - Patagonia-style...

We wanted to share two exciting developments in the world of river restoration, dam removal, and salmon and steelhead recovery.

First, a movie trailer...

DamNation is a new project - still in the works - from felt soul media (the same guys responsible for the widely-acclaimed 2010 award-winning film Red Gold about Alaska's Bristol Bay sockeye and the Pebble Mine proposal) - this time as part of a collaboration with Patagonia and Stoecker Ecological.

Due out in early 2013, DamNation will examine the rapidly growing river-restoration-through-dam-removal movement: where we as a nation have come and what's ahead!

Former Secretary of Interior calls for lower Snake River dam removal

Patagonia just published their Early Fall 2012 catalog. It's their "Dam Busters" issue. The catalog's cover features the dam-formerly-known-as-the-Elwha on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  This dam was removed in the last year. It is gone! The lower stretch of the river is flowing freely and salmon and steelhead are ALREADY expanding into habitat that has been inaccessible for 100 years!

The removal of the river's upper dam is still under way. When fully removed by next year, it will re-open more than 75 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead in the heart of the wild, pristine Olympic National Park.

To get a flavor of the catalog if you don't already have it, take a look at the opening essay from President Clinton's Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt: The Dawn of Dam Removal.

A huge thanks to Patagonia, felt soul media, and Stoecker Ecological for their outstanding work!