Return of the River

Although keyed to Pacific Northwest territorial interests, filmmakers John Gussman and Jessica Plumb's poetic eco-documentary captures the full story arc of a controversial "green" problem and how it was satisfactorily resolved. White settlers who came to the Port Angeles area in Washington state built numerous dams along the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, which supplied hydroelectric power and lake recreation, but also destroyed the salmon runs that were the river's literal lifeblood and offered subsistence to local Native American tribes. By the 1960s and ‘70s, tribal members were clashing with authorities over their fishing rights to nearly extinct local fish. With the aging dams requiring maintenance near the 100-year mark, a grassroots movement arose (spearheaded by Mountain in the Clouds writer Bruce Brown, one of several regional authors interviewed), urging that the dam system be dismantled. Ultimately (and remarkably, via a presidential order by George H.W. Bush), a plan was implemented to remove the dams, but local authorities fought it for many years before reaching a consensus solution. Dulcet-toned narrator Debbe Hirata literally speaks for the river here in this noteworthy environmental documentary with a rare happy ending. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)