Year of the River: Episode 3, Elwha River (WA)
Posted: 01/19/2012
By: Thomas O'Keefe
Currently underway, the Elwha River restoration project is the biggest dam removal effort in history (see today's progress). While American Whitewater has been proud to play a part in this effort, the real credit goes to the Elwha Tribe and some creative and innovative thinkers in the river conservation community who came up with this "crazy idea" that dam removal would actually be possible.
Recognizing the need to highlight a couple of these early pioneers in the effort to restore the
Elwha, American Whitewater partnered with American Rivers
and Andy Maser to release "Year of the River: Episode
3" with support from the Hydropower Reform
Coalition.
Conservation advocates Rick Rutz and Shawn Cantrell have been working for 27 years to make the
Elwha River dam removal project a reality. On a rafting trip down the Elwha, they tell the story
of taking the concept from “crazy idea” to landmark victory.
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Thomas O'Keefe
3537 NE 87th St.
Seattle, WA 98115
E-mail: okeefe@americanwhitewater.org
Phone: 425-417-9012
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