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.

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

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.....

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Great report…beautiful river…thanks…

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

Now for the rest of the dams!!!
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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.

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.