Oregon Field Guide

Rewilding the Elwha River

By Stephani Gordon (OPB)
March 5, 2025 11:53 p.m.

Twelve years after dam removal, salmon are returning and wildlife roam on newly restored land

It’s been over a decade since two dams came out of the Elwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Salmon are returning, cougars, elk, foxes and bears roam 800 acres of newly restored land, and the river runs wild, tearing up the road that ran along its banks. For the first time in over a hundred years, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members can catch salmon on a free-flowing Elwha.

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