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This morning, I came...
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...I saw...
and I was conquered,
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00:00:51,319 --> 00:00:56,700
as everyone would be who
sees for the first time
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00:00:56,724 --> 00:01:00,328
this great feat of mankind.
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00:01:04,265 --> 00:01:08,312
Ten years ago the place
where we are gathered
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00:01:08,336 --> 00:01:13,350
was an unpeopled,
forbidding desert.
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In the bottom of the gloomy
canyon whose precipitous walls
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00:01:16,677 --> 00:01:19,456
rose to height of more
than a thousand feet,
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flowed a turbulent,
dangerous river.
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We are here to
celebrate the completion
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00:01:30,591 --> 00:01:33,703
of the greatest
dam in the world,
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00:01:33,727 --> 00:01:38,742
rising 726 feet above
the bedrock of the river
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00:01:38,766 --> 00:01:42,803
and altering the geography
of a whole region.
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00:01:51,945 --> 00:01:56,160
The people of the
United States are proud.
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00:01:56,184 --> 00:01:59,829
With the exception of the few
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00:01:59,853 --> 00:02:02,899
who are narrow-visioned.
17
00:02:02,923 --> 00:02:06,470
This great dam won
universal approval.
18
00:02:06,494 --> 00:02:10,407
This is an engineering
victory of the first order.
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00:02:10,431 --> 00:02:15,179
Another great achievement
of American resourcefulness,
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00:02:15,203 --> 00:02:19,440
American skill and
American determination.
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00:03:13,494 --> 00:03:17,241
These are...
this is the tape from, uh...
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00:03:17,265 --> 00:03:19,976
Recently taped them
at Hetch Hetchy, left it,
23
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,779
and then just kept
them after the Elwha.
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00:03:22,803 --> 00:03:24,681
But, yeah...
25
00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:31,721
A little quieter compared to this.
You know?
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00:03:38,519 --> 00:03:41,531
Go for it.
But do it bigger and better.
27
00:03:41,555 --> 00:03:42,866
Definitely do it
bigger and better.
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00:03:42,890 --> 00:03:44,668
Don't, you know,
it's like, great,
29
00:03:44,692 --> 00:03:47,371
25 years ago we did
a couple painted cracks on dams.
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00:03:47,395 --> 00:03:49,873
Passé, it's old, been done.
Take it a step further.
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00:03:49,897 --> 00:03:53,867
Just something, you know,
something really impressive.
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00:03:54,935 --> 00:03:56,946
I don't know
what that'd be, but...
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00:03:56,970 --> 00:04:00,750
come up with something.
34
00:04:00,774 --> 00:04:03,387
Inspiration can be
a pretty dangerous thing.
35
00:04:03,411 --> 00:04:06,856
Mikal's advice haunted me for
months after we interviewed him.
36
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,793
What sort of lunatic
rappels off a 200-foot dam
37
00:04:09,817 --> 00:04:12,662
with a paint bucket, alone
in the middle of the night,
38
00:04:12,686 --> 00:04:14,030
just to make a statement?
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00:04:14,054 --> 00:04:16,366
Anyway, I'm getting
way ahead of myself.
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00:04:16,390 --> 00:04:18,768
We'll get back to that.
My name's Ben, by the way.
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00:04:18,792 --> 00:04:20,970
I'll be your narrator.
42
00:04:20,994 --> 00:04:23,540
It was kind of embarrassing
how little I knew about dams
43
00:04:23,564 --> 00:04:25,442
when I started
working on this film.
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00:04:25,466 --> 00:04:27,577
I used to sneak inside
their overflow tunnels
45
00:04:27,601 --> 00:04:30,046
once in awhile, to take photos
of my friends skateboarding.
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00:04:30,070 --> 00:04:32,882
So the extent of my knowledge
about dams mostly had to do
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00:04:32,906 --> 00:04:36,377
with how to avoid getting arrested
while crawling inside them.
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00:04:45,419 --> 00:04:48,832
Dams don't just blend in as part
of the landscape to me anymore.
49
00:04:48,856 --> 00:04:51,535
Knowing what I know now,
it's impossible for me
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00:04:51,559 --> 00:04:54,438
to look at dams the same way
I did a few years ago.
51
00:04:54,462 --> 00:04:56,406
Or even rivers for that matter.
52
00:04:56,430 --> 00:04:59,943
Dams and hydropower represent
a pivotal part of US history.
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00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:01,711
There's no denying that.
54
00:05:01,735 --> 00:05:04,514
But just like any other
resource development in the US,
55
00:05:04,538 --> 00:05:06,006
we took it too far.
56
00:05:13,414 --> 00:05:19,095
There are 75,000
dams over three feet high
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00:05:19,119 --> 00:05:21,030
in the United States.
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00:05:21,054 --> 00:05:25,435
That's the equivalent of building one
everyday since Thomas Jefferson.
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00:05:25,459 --> 00:05:27,728
Was the president
of the United States.
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00:05:31,532 --> 00:05:35,111
Dams have been a common part of
the American landscape for centuries.
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00:05:35,135 --> 00:05:37,381
Most early communities
were established
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00:05:37,405 --> 00:05:39,383
on the banks of rivers
so dams could be built
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00:05:39,407 --> 00:05:42,776
to divert river flows to
water wheels to run machinery.
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00:05:44,545 --> 00:05:47,424
Around the time Edison
had the light bulb dialed in,
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00:05:47,448 --> 00:05:51,828
the first hydroelectric powers was being
generated on the US side of Niagara Falls.
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00:05:51,852 --> 00:05:57,033
At one point, nearly half the country's
power was being fed by hydropower alone.
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00:05:57,057 --> 00:05:59,769
As America's dependency
on electricity grew,
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00:05:59,793 --> 00:06:01,738
new dams were
being built so fast
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00:06:01,762 --> 00:06:05,041
that the engineering technology
struggled to keep up.
70
00:06:05,065 --> 00:06:09,145
One of the worst disasters
in US history occurred in 1889
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00:06:09,169 --> 00:06:12,916
when Pennsylvania South Fork
Dam failed with no warning.
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00:06:12,940 --> 00:06:17,086
The city of Johnstown was leveled
with 20 million tons of water,
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00:06:17,110 --> 00:06:19,122
taking 2,200 lives.
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00:06:19,146 --> 00:06:22,191
The flood is still referred to
as a natural disaster,
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00:06:22,215 --> 00:06:24,794
despite the fact that there's
really nothing natural
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00:06:24,818 --> 00:06:28,765
about impounding a river behind
a poorly constructed wall.
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00:06:28,789 --> 00:06:32,469
In the late 1800s, the government
was faced with a tough choice
78
00:06:32,493 --> 00:06:36,573
when they began to realize that every
major fishery in the country was at risk.
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00:06:36,597 --> 00:06:41,611
Either start regulating the impact of
harvest pollution and dams on wild fish,
80
00:06:41,635 --> 00:06:44,848
or mitigate that loss by
trading nature for science.
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00:06:44,872 --> 00:06:47,984
The answer was the national
fish hatchery system.
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00:06:48,008 --> 00:06:51,521
In 1902, the Reclamation Act
was passed by Congress
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00:06:51,545 --> 00:06:53,056
to promote the settlement
of the West
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00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,091
through the development
of irrigation projects
85
00:06:55,115 --> 00:06:57,226
to support small family farms.
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00:06:57,250 --> 00:06:58,828
This well intentioned mission
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00:06:58,852 --> 00:07:00,897
devolved into the
Bureau of Reclamation,
88
00:07:00,921 --> 00:07:04,133
whose short-sided projects began
a legacy of resource abuse.
89
00:07:04,157 --> 00:07:06,936
Transporting and impounding
absurd amounts of water
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00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,908
to support unsustainable desert agriculture
and sprawling urban development.
91
00:07:11,932 --> 00:07:14,043
The mighty waters
of the Colorado,
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00:07:14,067 --> 00:07:16,212
were running unused to the sea.
93
00:07:16,236 --> 00:07:19,683
Today we translate them
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00:07:19,707 --> 00:07:23,953
into a great
national possession.
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00:07:23,977 --> 00:07:27,524
In 1913, a seven-year
environmental battle,
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00:07:27,548 --> 00:07:30,126
led by the legendary
Sierra Club founder, John Muir,
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00:07:30,150 --> 00:07:34,731
ended in vain, when Congress gave the
green light to flood a national park.
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00:07:34,755 --> 00:07:37,767
Yosemite's stunning Hetch
Hetchy Valley was dammed
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00:07:37,791 --> 00:07:41,094
to provide water storage
for the city of San Francisco.
100
00:07:45,232 --> 00:07:48,712
On March 12th, 1928,
12 hours after
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00:07:48,736 --> 00:07:51,815
a safety inspection by its
engineer William Mulholland,
102
00:07:51,839 --> 00:07:55,018
California's St. Francis Dam
broke free from its foundation,
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00:07:55,042 --> 00:07:58,755
sending a wall of LA's water
supply plowing downstream.
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00:07:58,779 --> 00:08:01,688
Mulholland was cleared
of any wrongdoing, but
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00:08:01,700 --> 00:08:04,694
felt personally responsible
for dam's failure.
106
00:08:04,718 --> 00:08:07,697
"I envy the dead," said
Mulholland at a court hearing.
107
00:08:07,721 --> 00:08:12,893
"Don't blame anyone else. If there was an
error in human judgment, I was the human."
108
00:08:17,164 --> 00:08:20,209
During the Great Depression,
Reclamation began the two most
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00:08:20,233 --> 00:08:23,046
ambitious engineering
efforts in US history:
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00:08:23,070 --> 00:08:26,115
The Hoover Dam on the border
of Arizona and Nevada
111
00:08:26,139 --> 00:08:28,918
and the Grand Coulee Dam
in eastern Washington.
112
00:08:28,942 --> 00:08:31,588
Both projects created
thousands of coveted jobs,
113
00:08:31,612 --> 00:08:33,681
and were proudly embraced by the
public as national treasures.
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00:08:36,817 --> 00:08:39,262
By the time Coulee's
generators went online,
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00:08:39,286 --> 00:08:43,232
the US hydropower's system was feeding
an insatiable demand for electricity
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00:08:43,256 --> 00:08:46,860
to build airplanes, ships
and bombs for World War II.
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00:08:49,697 --> 00:08:53,943
If the era of dams had a Golden
Age, it was the following 20 years.
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00:08:53,967 --> 00:08:56,980
The Army Corps of Engineers,
the Bureau of Reclamation
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00:08:57,004 --> 00:08:58,648
and the Tennessee
Valley Authority,
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00:08:58,672 --> 00:09:00,083
were the government's
dream team.
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00:09:00,107 --> 00:09:01,985
If it flowed, it was dammed.
122
00:09:02,009 --> 00:09:03,753
Any river left unharnessed
123
00:09:03,777 --> 00:09:06,656
was considered a dangerous
torrent with wasted potential.
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00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:12,552
Thirty thousand private and federal dams
were completed between 1950 and 1970.
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00:09:15,989 --> 00:09:18,367
By that point, the Yellowstone
was one of very few
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00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:21,605
unauthored watersheds
left in the nation.
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00:09:21,629 --> 00:09:25,875
When the Bureau of Reclamation began running
out of ideal locations to build dams,
128
00:09:25,899 --> 00:09:27,744
shit starting getting weird.
129
00:09:27,768 --> 00:09:30,914
Massive dams were proposed
in Grand Canyon National Park
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00:09:30,938 --> 00:09:33,182
and Utah's Dinosaur
National Monument.
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00:09:33,206 --> 00:09:36,686
Led by environmentalist David Brower,
the Sierra Club worked quickly
132
00:09:36,710 --> 00:09:39,989
to rally a massive outcry
of public disapproval.
133
00:09:40,013 --> 00:09:42,626
But while Brower's attention
was focused elsewhere,
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00:09:42,650 --> 00:09:47,196
Reclamation's new secret weapon was quietly
flooding a little known national treasure
135
00:09:47,220 --> 00:09:49,065
with very little opposition.
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00:09:49,089 --> 00:09:51,701
If he'd had known how
beautiful that area was,
137
00:09:51,725 --> 00:09:54,137
he would've fought it
tooth and nail.
138
00:09:54,161 --> 00:09:59,408
Brower now says that was the
biggest mistake he's every made.
139
00:09:59,432 --> 00:10:04,413
In 1973, the Endangered Species Act
was set into motion by President Nixon.
140
00:10:04,437 --> 00:10:07,851
A bold move to protect endangered
species from extinction
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00:10:07,875 --> 00:10:10,286
as a consequence
of economic development.
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00:10:10,310 --> 00:10:13,322
And dam contributing
to the demise of a species,
143
00:10:13,346 --> 00:10:16,059
could now be held
accountable by law.
144
00:10:16,083 --> 00:10:19,996
In 1976, the Bureau of Reclamation
set up a claims office
145
00:10:20,020 --> 00:10:22,899
in eastern Idaho to
Divvy out $300 million
146
00:10:22,923 --> 00:10:27,170
to the communities in the flood path
of their newly completed Teton Dam.
147
00:10:27,194 --> 00:10:30,039
As its reservoir filled
for the very first time,
148
00:10:30,063 --> 00:10:34,077
the 300-foot earthen dam started
to liquefy and cave away,
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00:10:34,101 --> 00:10:37,004
taking 11 lives downstream.
150
00:10:38,706 --> 00:10:41,951
During an interview with
the High Country News in 1995,
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00:10:41,975 --> 00:10:45,288
Clinton appointed, Bureau of
Reclamation commissioner Dan Beard
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00:10:45,312 --> 00:10:48,191
stated that, "The Bureau's
future isn't in dams.
153
00:10:48,215 --> 00:10:50,259
The era of dams is over."
154
00:10:50,283 --> 00:10:54,463
In 1997, the 162-year-old
Edwards Dam,
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00:10:54,487 --> 00:10:56,165
on Maine's Kennebec River,
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00:10:56,189 --> 00:10:59,268
became the first major
dam removal in US history.
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00:10:59,292 --> 00:11:02,205
River conservation
organization, American Rivers,
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00:11:02,229 --> 00:11:05,141
declared 2011,
"The Year of the River,"
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00:11:05,165 --> 00:11:07,443
as multiple dam removal
projects began,
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00:11:07,467 --> 00:11:11,347
including the largest in US history,
on Washington's Elwha River,
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00:11:11,371 --> 00:11:13,707
in Olympic National Park.
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00:11:21,815 --> 00:11:27,864
We are here today to say, "Free that
beautiful Elwha River, let her run free."
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00:11:27,888 --> 00:11:31,234
Uh... We're here to say,
"Welcome back," to the salmon.
164
00:11:31,258 --> 00:11:34,137
We want you to live free, again.
165
00:11:34,161 --> 00:11:36,840
There are a grand total
in that pool over there,
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00:11:36,864 --> 00:11:42,511
someone counted them yesterday,
73 salmon. Not 72, not 74.
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00:11:42,535 --> 00:11:46,449
I love people with fisheries and wildlife,
"There are exactly 73, governor."
168
00:11:48,475 --> 00:11:54,123
So, to those we say, "We want 73,000 more.
Welcome back, come on back."
169
00:11:54,147 --> 00:11:56,049
That's what this day
is all about.
170
00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:11,374
See a lot of people don't realize how
deep this... really deep this is.
171
00:12:11,398 --> 00:12:16,179
Until you get right here
to the edge and you look over.
172
00:12:16,203 --> 00:12:20,784
Yeah, I mean it was... you know it was
kinda known that today was the last day
173
00:12:20,808 --> 00:12:23,352
of our final operations
up here on the dam.
174
00:12:23,376 --> 00:12:26,379
It was... yeah,
a little reflective.
175
00:12:28,916 --> 00:12:30,493
You come into a plant,
176
00:12:30,517 --> 00:12:33,462
and as you learn to operate
and spend time with them,
177
00:12:33,486 --> 00:12:39,002
you learn to listen to certain
sounds that are not normal,
178
00:12:39,026 --> 00:12:42,338
certain vibrations
that are not typical.
179
00:12:42,362 --> 00:12:46,175
But this machine,
for as many years as its ran,
180
00:12:46,199 --> 00:12:49,913
we would block load it and
she'd just run and run smooth.
181
00:12:49,937 --> 00:12:54,984
I think she'd just kept on
runnin' for years and years.
182
00:12:55,008 --> 00:12:59,488
June 1st was a big day, that was hard...
I'll be honest with you.
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00:12:59,512 --> 00:13:05,028
To shut down two perfectly good
running power plants, it wasn't easy.
184
00:13:05,052 --> 00:13:10,199
We, as a country right now, are
infatuated with tearing things down.
185
00:13:10,223 --> 00:13:14,938
It's not just an enterprise
to blow something up
186
00:13:14,962 --> 00:13:17,373
and build something
new and grander.
187
00:13:17,397 --> 00:13:20,343
Uh, I mean, we're
removing these for good.
188
00:13:20,367 --> 00:13:25,081
And we're not just taking dams out but
we're having to relocate families.
189
00:13:25,105 --> 00:13:27,450
And they're losing their jobs.
190
00:13:27,474 --> 00:13:32,021
Yeah, I have... I probably have
some personal feelings towards...
191
00:13:32,045 --> 00:13:34,314
...especially being
a hydropower guy.
192
00:13:35,615 --> 00:13:40,263
I think there's a very
intentional movement,
193
00:13:40,287 --> 00:13:43,466
by various groups in our country
to remove every dam.
194
00:13:43,490 --> 00:13:45,292
There's not doubt about that.
195
00:13:47,027 --> 00:13:48,872
We're all anxious to see,
196
00:13:48,896 --> 00:13:51,140
was this thing really worth it?
197
00:13:51,164 --> 00:13:56,579
Was is worth the $370 million to
the American taxpayer to do this?
198
00:13:56,603 --> 00:13:59,048
Did it really make a difference?
199
00:13:59,072 --> 00:14:04,253
And if in ten or 20 years down
the road we look back and say,
200
00:14:04,277 --> 00:14:07,056
"Nothing really
changed that much,"
201
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,326
then I think we're all going to
come to some similar conclusions.
202
00:14:10,350 --> 00:14:14,063
And only times going to tell is if
that's going to be true or not.
203
00:14:14,087 --> 00:14:15,631
What's your gut say?
204
00:14:15,655 --> 00:14:17,300
What's my gut say?
205
00:14:17,324 --> 00:14:20,636
Uh, I just assume
not say anything.
206
00:14:20,660 --> 00:14:23,596
That says a lot.
207
00:14:24,998 --> 00:14:28,135
I'm not running
for politics, buddy.
208
00:14:31,038 --> 00:14:36,219
I made a statement about
taking out Elwha Dam
209
00:14:36,243 --> 00:14:38,587
in my first months in office.
210
00:14:38,611 --> 00:14:41,624
And it caused a lot of trouble.
The president...
211
00:14:41,648 --> 00:14:44,360
President Clinton
took me aside and said,
212
00:14:44,384 --> 00:14:48,131
"Bruce, what's all this talk
about removing dams?"
213
00:14:48,155 --> 00:14:51,667
When I first moved to the
state of Washington in 1991,
214
00:14:51,691 --> 00:14:55,138
I was told, "Gotta get involved
with the Elwha Dam removal project!
215
00:14:55,162 --> 00:14:56,672
It's gonna happen any year now."
216
00:14:56,696 --> 00:14:59,208
So, 20 years later,
it's actually happening.
217
00:14:59,232 --> 00:15:04,147
The dams, both of them,
were illegal to start with,
218
00:15:04,171 --> 00:15:10,119
because of existing legislation,
which stated essentially that
219
00:15:10,143 --> 00:15:15,091
any dam built, had to have
passage for migrating salmon.
220
00:15:15,115 --> 00:15:19,562
All the species of wild fish
that have ever live in Elwha
221
00:15:19,586 --> 00:15:21,530
are still there,
biologists know that.
222
00:15:21,554 --> 00:15:24,367
Adult Snook Salmon
still beating their head
223
00:15:24,391 --> 00:15:25,501
against the bottom of the dam,
224
00:15:25,525 --> 00:15:28,004
A century later,
they're still trying
225
00:15:28,028 --> 00:15:30,139
to get upstream,
into Olympic National Park.
226
00:15:30,163 --> 00:15:32,708
Taking a dam out and
opening up a watershed,
227
00:15:32,732 --> 00:15:36,412
reconnecting it with the fish that were
there for hundreds of thousands of years,
228
00:15:36,436 --> 00:15:38,338
it's a very powerful experience.
229
00:15:41,008 --> 00:15:42,451
There's three things
that come to mind:
230
00:15:42,475 --> 00:15:44,120
Hope, humility and happiness.
231
00:15:44,144 --> 00:15:46,489
The hope of recovery
in a lot of these places,
232
00:15:46,513 --> 00:15:49,458
the humility when you go to
places like southwest Alaska,
233
00:15:49,482 --> 00:15:52,095
um, and other places
where you see the abundance.
234
00:15:52,119 --> 00:15:55,764
A just a basic spiritual happiness
that you can't find in...
235
00:15:55,788 --> 00:15:58,358
I can't find in
a lot of other things.
236
00:16:03,063 --> 00:16:06,375
It was the elders that
kept the memory alive.
237
00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:09,612
It was the elders
that passed that knowledge,
238
00:16:09,636 --> 00:16:13,140
the knowledge of this
river in its origin.
239
00:16:13,706 --> 00:16:15,551
They don't forget.
240
00:16:15,575 --> 00:16:18,254
They don't move on.
241
00:16:18,278 --> 00:16:24,551
They remember and they persistently
seek restoration of what was once.
242
00:16:26,553 --> 00:16:32,068
It's an answer to
our ancestor's prayers.
243
00:16:32,092 --> 00:16:36,739
And I'm just grateful that we're able
to see it happen in our lifetime.
244
00:16:38,531 --> 00:16:40,509
So, that's what we're doing,
we're saying thank you
245
00:16:40,533 --> 00:16:45,172
for making sure that the fish
come back and sustain the people.
246
00:16:50,243 --> 00:16:53,356
The people of the lower Elwha,
247
00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:58,061
they entered into
a treaty in 1855
248
00:16:58,085 --> 00:17:00,663
that gave the word
of the United States,
249
00:17:00,687 --> 00:17:05,134
that they would be able to
continue their way of life,
250
00:17:05,158 --> 00:17:08,504
and to live off
the abundant resources
251
00:17:08,528 --> 00:17:11,174
of that free-flowing river.
252
00:17:11,198 --> 00:17:13,242
Although the US Constitution
253
00:17:13,266 --> 00:17:17,146
says that treaties are
the supreme law of the land,
254
00:17:17,170 --> 00:17:23,219
the people of the lower Elwha
saw only injustice
255
00:17:23,243 --> 00:17:26,855
for about 100 years.
256
00:17:26,879 --> 00:17:29,158
But there's a healing now,
257
00:17:29,182 --> 00:17:32,185
because that is changing.
258
00:17:33,820 --> 00:17:38,801
All of Indian country
is here in spirit,
259
00:17:38,825 --> 00:17:44,164
and their eyes are focused on
the people of the lower Elwha.
260
00:18:37,550 --> 00:18:40,596
"Where had they come from?
261
00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:43,432
The answer sounds
like a fairy tale.
262
00:18:43,456 --> 00:18:45,601
The far reaches of the sea.
263
00:18:45,625 --> 00:18:49,205
How had they arrived?
Another fairy tale.
264
00:18:49,229 --> 00:18:52,341
By swimming against one of the
most powerful rivers on Earth,
265
00:18:52,365 --> 00:18:56,712
past eight deadly dams all
the way up from the Pacific.
266
00:18:56,736 --> 00:19:01,684
Why had they made such an
insane journey? Another wonder.
267
00:19:01,708 --> 00:19:05,421
These colored stones and clear
currents so high and far
268
00:19:05,445 --> 00:19:07,623
from the sea,
once gave them life.
269
00:19:07,647 --> 00:19:10,226
So they'd become
mountain climbers.
270
00:19:10,250 --> 00:19:14,597
Literal mountain climbers, though
they possess no legs, hooves, feet,
271
00:19:14,621 --> 00:19:19,235
They'd climb the Rockies to the pebbles
of their berth by swimming home,
272
00:19:19,259 --> 00:19:21,804
at the certain
cost of their lives,
273
00:19:21,828 --> 00:19:25,798
in order to create
tiny silver offspring."
274
00:19:33,673 --> 00:19:37,853
I just want to welcome
you folks to Grand Coulee Dam.
275
00:19:37,877 --> 00:19:42,391
This is the largest producer of
hydroelectricity in North America,
276
00:19:42,415 --> 00:19:44,827
and the largest concrete
structure in North America.
277
00:19:44,851 --> 00:19:47,696
For many years it was
the largest in the world.
278
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,666
Two-hundred-fifty-thousand
gallons of water a second
279
00:19:50,690 --> 00:19:52,868
going through each
of the big penstocks,
280
00:19:52,892 --> 00:19:54,937
and when it's
really cranking good,
281
00:19:54,961 --> 00:19:57,406
it can actually vibrate
through the bedrock,
282
00:19:57,430 --> 00:19:59,808
you can sometimes feel it
clear across the river.
283
00:19:59,832 --> 00:20:03,303
So you just really know
there's a lot of power there.
284
00:20:07,574 --> 00:20:13,489
There are those that would take out every
dam just to save a couple of salmon.
285
00:20:13,513 --> 00:20:17,260
There are those that think the
Native Americans got a raw deal.
286
00:20:17,284 --> 00:20:21,697
Some of them, of course, would like to go
back and have their native salmon runs
287
00:20:21,721 --> 00:20:23,332
and live off the land.
288
00:20:23,356 --> 00:20:26,402
But things progress...
289
00:20:26,426 --> 00:20:30,806
The Elwha, the Condit,
they were old dams,
290
00:20:30,830 --> 00:20:33,309
obsolete in terms of efficiency,
291
00:20:33,333 --> 00:20:35,311
so if we want to
selectively take out
292
00:20:35,335 --> 00:20:36,812
some of those older,
smaller dams,
293
00:20:36,836 --> 00:20:39,382
not really a problem there.
294
00:20:39,406 --> 00:20:41,049
We can do that,
restore some fisheries,
295
00:20:41,073 --> 00:20:43,886
but this dam,
I can't conceive of anybody
296
00:20:43,910 --> 00:20:48,391
really, seriously,
wanting to take this dam out.
297
00:20:48,415 --> 00:20:51,727
A dam, for salmon,
essentially is, lack of access.
298
00:20:51,751 --> 00:20:55,831
Their basic life history requires the
juvenile fish to go out to the ocean,
299
00:20:55,855 --> 00:20:57,900
and the adult fish to come back
to their spawning stream.
300
00:20:57,924 --> 00:21:01,804
So, anything that blocks
a river, like a dam does,
301
00:21:01,828 --> 00:21:05,408
is end of story in terms of
their ability to access
302
00:21:05,432 --> 00:21:08,401
part of the world they need
to complete their life cycle.
303
00:21:10,470 --> 00:21:13,449
Some people still define
the Pacific Northwest region
304
00:21:13,473 --> 00:21:15,318
as anywhere salmon can swim.
305
00:21:15,342 --> 00:21:17,486
It's a romantic thing to say,
but that would mean
306
00:21:17,510 --> 00:21:19,988
the territory has been
cut in half by dams.
307
00:21:20,012 --> 00:21:23,058
At one point, the Columbian
Snake River, shown here in red,
308
00:21:23,082 --> 00:21:26,595
were the most productive wild
salmon fisheries in the lower 48.
309
00:21:26,619 --> 00:21:30,899
Now the runs hover around
8% of their former glory.
310
00:21:30,923 --> 00:21:33,902
Every fish that passes this
window at Bonneville Dam,
311
00:21:33,926 --> 00:21:38,441
has to find and negotiate an
elaborate passage to move upstream.
312
00:21:38,465 --> 00:21:41,377
The only chance for their
offspring to get to the ocean
313
00:21:41,401 --> 00:21:44,847
is if the dams are spilling water,
but that equates to wasted power.
314
00:21:44,871 --> 00:21:48,116
So you'll commonly see juvenile
fish being transported in barges
315
00:21:48,140 --> 00:21:51,687
and trucks downstream,
past the dams.
316
00:21:51,711 --> 00:21:54,657
Tens of thousands of now
endangered Snake River Sockeye
317
00:21:54,681 --> 00:21:56,892
used to make
the 900-mile journey to spawn
318
00:21:56,916 --> 00:21:58,727
in Idaho's Redfish Lake.
319
00:21:58,751 --> 00:22:02,998
In 1992, only one fish made
it home past all eight dams.
320
00:22:03,022 --> 00:22:05,834
If you equate the number
of Snake River Sockeye
321
00:22:05,858 --> 00:22:07,870
that have returned
in the 20 years since,
322
00:22:07,894 --> 00:22:10,606
to the amount of money
spent on recovery efforts,
323
00:22:10,630 --> 00:22:13,633
it comes to $9,000 per fish.
324
00:22:15,835 --> 00:22:18,046
The rivers are run
like machines.
325
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:20,983
Every aspect of their flow
is controlled by computers
326
00:22:21,007 --> 00:22:22,751
in a Portland office.
327
00:22:22,775 --> 00:22:25,087
During spring runoff,
when the rivers are cranking,
328
00:22:25,111 --> 00:22:27,790
there's actually a surplus
of energy in the grid at times,
329
00:22:27,814 --> 00:22:32,094
leaving wind generated power with
nowhere to go and no one to pay for it.
330
00:22:32,118 --> 00:22:34,997
Seeing thousands of wind
turbines generating wind power
331
00:22:35,021 --> 00:22:38,967
in the Columbia Gorge with no impact
on salmon runs and water quality,
332
00:22:38,991 --> 00:22:41,307
definitely raises the
question as to how
333
00:22:41,319 --> 00:22:43,939
hydropower could be
marketed as green energy.
334
00:22:43,963 --> 00:22:48,777
One things for sure though, the pro-dam
crowd seems a little threatened by it.
335
00:22:48,801 --> 00:22:51,714
It's like Beanie Babies,
the fad of Beanie Babies.
336
00:22:51,738 --> 00:22:53,916
Everybody had to have
Beanie Babies.
337
00:22:53,940 --> 00:22:57,586
Well, wind is a fad,
everybody has to have wind.
338
00:22:57,610 --> 00:22:59,988
And then you buy
all of these Beanie Babies
339
00:23:00,012 --> 00:23:02,090
and you load up the shelf
and you got all of these
340
00:23:02,114 --> 00:23:05,093
Beanie Babies
and what are they good for?
341
00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:06,795
Well, not much.
342
00:23:06,819 --> 00:23:10,089
And that's just the same
as the wind, it's just a fad.
343
00:23:11,691 --> 00:23:14,169
It's really hard to have
a balanced conversation
344
00:23:14,193 --> 00:23:16,204
on the subject
of dams versus salmon.
345
00:23:16,228 --> 00:23:19,442
When the most outspoken pro-dam
politicians in the country
346
00:23:19,466 --> 00:23:22,077
refused all of our
requests for interviews.
347
00:23:22,101 --> 00:23:26,649
Well, one of them reluctantly let us in, and
then not so reluctantly asked us to leave.
348
00:23:26,673 --> 00:23:29,852
I can't say I really blame these
guys for not wanting to talk to us.
349
00:23:29,876 --> 00:23:32,755
But I couldn't help but wonder what
their rhetoric would sound like.
350
00:23:32,779 --> 00:23:35,924
Lucky for us, we heard they
were throwing a little party
351
00:23:35,948 --> 00:23:38,594
to introduce a bill that would
prohibit federal funding
352
00:23:38,618 --> 00:23:40,663
from ever being used
for dam removal,
353
00:23:40,687 --> 00:23:42,164
or the study or dam removal,
354
00:23:42,188 --> 00:23:45,458
unless explicitly
authorized by Congress.
355
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,137
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
356
00:23:49,161 --> 00:23:51,574
thank for your leadership
on this issue.
357
00:23:51,598 --> 00:23:56,645
Thank you, especially for holding
this hearing to examine and expose
358
00:23:56,669 --> 00:23:59,882
The continuing drive
of the environmental left
359
00:23:59,906 --> 00:24:02,651
to destroy our nations
systems of dams.
360
00:24:02,675 --> 00:24:07,856
Some people seem to have forgotten that
before the era of dam construction,
361
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,560
the endless cycle of withering
droughts and violent floods,
362
00:24:11,584 --> 00:24:13,729
constantly plagued
our watersheds.
363
00:24:13,753 --> 00:24:17,766
Our dams tamed these
environmentally devastating events.
364
00:24:17,790 --> 00:24:20,769
They turned deserts into oasis,
365
00:24:20,793 --> 00:24:23,539
and laid the foundation
for a century of growth
366
00:24:23,563 --> 00:24:25,874
and prosperity
for the American West.
367
00:24:25,898 --> 00:24:29,111
But over the last
few decades, radical
368
00:24:29,135 --> 00:24:33,081
and retrograde ideology
has seized our public policy.
369
00:24:33,105 --> 00:24:36,885
It springs from the bizarre
notion that Mother Earth
370
00:24:36,909 --> 00:24:41,023
must be restored to her
pristine pre-historic condition
371
00:24:41,047 --> 00:24:44,056
even if it means restoring
the human population
372
00:24:44,068 --> 00:24:46,595
to its pristine
pre-historic condition.
373
00:24:46,619 --> 00:24:51,099
They're not satisfied with merely
blocking construction of new dams,
374
00:24:51,123 --> 00:24:55,671
they're not seeking to destroy
our existing facilities.
375
00:24:55,695 --> 00:24:58,240
We'll be required to
stretch and ration
376
00:24:58,264 --> 00:25:01,577
every drop of water
and every wad of electricity
377
00:25:01,601 --> 00:25:05,247
in their bleak and stifling
and dimly lit homes.
378
00:25:05,271 --> 00:25:10,586
Homes in which gravel has replaced green
lawns and toilets constantly back up.
379
00:25:10,610 --> 00:25:14,122
To me, these glaring hypocrisies
destroy their credibility
380
00:25:14,146 --> 00:25:18,727
and reveal an unabashedly
nihilistic agenda.
381
00:25:18,751 --> 00:25:21,864
This is the kind
of lunacy we are facing.
382
00:25:21,888 --> 00:25:26,001
As you deal with these people,
you begin to realize
383
00:25:26,025 --> 00:25:30,573
we are literally dealing with the
lunatic fringe of our society,
384
00:25:30,597 --> 00:25:34,009
and they are in charge of our
public policy on these issues
385
00:25:34,033 --> 00:25:36,278
because we let them.
386
00:25:36,302 --> 00:25:38,571
We're not going
to let them anymore.
387
00:25:46,012 --> 00:25:49,658
As tempting as it was to stay and
high-five all our new pro-dam friends,
388
00:25:49,682 --> 00:25:53,996
there was a place just a few miles
away that I wanted to visit.
389
00:25:54,020 --> 00:25:57,299
Just 57 years ago at this spot
on the Columbia River,
390
00:25:57,323 --> 00:25:59,702
the Army Corps of Engineers
committed today
391
00:25:59,726 --> 00:26:02,561
what would be called an act
of cultural genocide.
392
00:26:06,065 --> 00:26:09,845
As Sherman Alexie, a
Spokane Coeur d'Alene Indian says,
393
00:26:09,869 --> 00:26:12,380
"Salmon are the Eucharist
of the tribes."
394
00:26:12,404 --> 00:26:16,218
The Eucharist, like,
the blood and body of Christ,
395
00:26:16,242 --> 00:26:18,654
it's that serious a symbol.
396
00:26:18,678 --> 00:26:24,326
And to run the dams in a way
that wipes out their culture,
397
00:26:24,350 --> 00:26:26,729
their spirituality
and their revenue,
398
00:26:26,753 --> 00:26:29,097
is like there being
a federal bureaucracy
399
00:26:29,121 --> 00:26:32,635
that removes the cattle
from ranches and tells cowboys
400
00:26:32,659 --> 00:26:34,861
that they're doing them a favor.
401
00:26:37,730 --> 00:26:41,209
This is Celilo Falls.
402
00:26:41,233 --> 00:26:47,339
The age old fishing grounds
of the Columbia River Indians.
403
00:26:48,741 --> 00:26:52,387
Here is a fisherman
swinging his net.
404
00:26:52,411 --> 00:26:56,825
Gathering fish
for the salmon feast
405
00:26:56,849 --> 00:27:01,229
given to welcome the spring.
406
00:27:01,253 --> 00:27:05,033
And my dad woke me
up and it was dark yet.
407
00:27:05,057 --> 00:27:08,070
"Come on, son, let's go,
the fish are coming."
408
00:27:08,094 --> 00:27:13,776
Took me outside the tent,
he said "Listen."
409
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:19,214
It sounded like a thousand people
with an oar beating on the water.
410
00:27:19,238 --> 00:27:22,008
It was salmon
coming up the river.
411
00:27:25,745 --> 00:27:28,423
The Celilo Falls
was the, you know,
412
00:27:28,447 --> 00:27:32,728
the grandest rendezvous
place for our people,
413
00:27:32,752 --> 00:27:35,698
and plateau tribes, in general.
414
00:27:35,722 --> 00:27:40,736
It mattered not whether you was
Yakama, Nespers, Umatilla, Cayuse...
415
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,271
Whatever you were,
didn't matter.
416
00:27:43,295 --> 00:27:45,698
You was a part of it.
417
00:27:50,236 --> 00:27:55,818
This mist and the roar of that
water is just...
418
00:27:55,842 --> 00:27:59,278
I think about it right now
and I can hear it.
419
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:06,729
That's one of my great things
that... in my memories.
420
00:28:06,753 --> 00:28:09,989
When I think about it,
I can actually hear it.
421
00:28:12,792 --> 00:28:17,072
This is the first, and
unfortunately the last time,
422
00:28:17,096 --> 00:28:20,375
that we will ever have
a film of this ceremony.
423
00:28:20,399 --> 00:28:24,112
As you will see,
the great Dalles dam,
424
00:28:24,136 --> 00:28:27,249
which is being built
several miles below here,
425
00:28:27,273 --> 00:28:31,787
will soon back up
over these falls.
426
00:28:31,811 --> 00:28:36,091
They will cover the great fishing
grounds, and the way of life
427
00:28:36,115 --> 00:28:41,187
that Indians have had here
will disappear forever.
428
00:29:12,451 --> 00:29:15,121
Celilo Falls was gone.
429
00:29:17,489 --> 00:29:20,302
So how do you think I felt?
430
00:29:20,326 --> 00:29:23,362
I knew what was there,
and I knew what they done.
431
00:29:24,964 --> 00:29:29,111
Sometimes I get out and I look
over that place and...
432
00:29:29,135 --> 00:29:34,273
...I can still see where some things
should be and they're not there no more.
433
00:29:37,276 --> 00:29:39,988
The wind has changed...
434
00:29:40,012 --> 00:29:43,515
...because of the flat surfaces
coming up the Columbia.
435
00:29:45,017 --> 00:29:48,430
The temperatures
of the waters have changed.
436
00:29:48,454 --> 00:29:54,002
The dead water makes it harder
for the fish to get up and down.
437
00:29:54,026 --> 00:29:57,405
And now all it is, is a big
body of water, is all it is.
438
00:29:57,429 --> 00:29:59,274
It means nothing to me.
439
00:29:59,298 --> 00:30:02,110
All it means
is what they took away.
440
00:30:02,134 --> 00:30:04,847
What these dams have done,
441
00:30:04,871 --> 00:30:09,017
they completely tore
my country apart.
442
00:30:09,041 --> 00:30:13,579
This is not the same country
as it was that we remember.
443
00:30:24,256 --> 00:30:28,103
Dating back more than 10,000
years, Celilo was one of the oldest,
444
00:30:28,127 --> 00:30:31,206
continuously inhabited
communities in North America
445
00:30:31,230 --> 00:30:34,042
until it was flooded in 1957.
446
00:30:34,066 --> 00:30:36,211
At one point,
the Army Corps of Engineers
447
00:30:36,235 --> 00:30:39,047
offered to lower the water
backed up behind the Dalles Dam
448
00:30:39,071 --> 00:30:42,985
long enough for the tribes to see
the falls again, just for a day.
449
00:30:43,009 --> 00:30:47,389
There was a resounding
"no" from elders
450
00:30:47,413 --> 00:30:52,460
that they could not live through
seeing them flooded again.
451
00:30:52,484 --> 00:30:56,064
There were some elders that
have never even been back there
452
00:30:56,088 --> 00:31:00,602
because it was so devastating, like
a death is what they called it.
453
00:31:00,626 --> 00:31:04,630
Like a funeral, and they could
not go through it again.
454
00:31:21,313 --> 00:31:25,060
Just upstream from Celilo, where
the Snake River meets the Columbia,
455
00:31:25,084 --> 00:31:27,562
you'll find what many agree,
are the most ill-conceived
456
00:31:27,586 --> 00:31:31,266
and environmentally
destructive dams in America.
457
00:31:31,290 --> 00:31:33,435
Fed by 23 major tributaries,
458
00:31:33,459 --> 00:31:37,239
the Snake River was once
the gateway to 5,500 miles
459
00:31:37,263 --> 00:31:41,076
of pristine wild fish habitat
in Idaho alone.
460
00:31:41,100 --> 00:31:45,180
Before lower Snake dams were built by the
Army Corps of Engineers in the '60s,
461
00:31:45,204 --> 00:31:48,316
with the stated purpose
of flood control irrigation,
462
00:31:48,340 --> 00:31:51,519
navigation, recreation
and hydropower,
463
00:31:51,543 --> 00:31:56,024
combined, the dams only generate
about 4% of the regions energy.
464
00:31:56,048 --> 00:32:00,395
These are run of river dams, which means
they provide little to no water storage.
465
00:32:00,419 --> 00:32:03,465
That also means they're physically
incapable of flood control,
466
00:32:03,489 --> 00:32:06,134
and it cancels out
their need for irrigation.
467
00:32:06,158 --> 00:32:10,172
The main purpose of all four
dams was river navigation,
468
00:32:10,196 --> 00:32:16,144
so a giant system of locks allows barges
to haul goods up and downstream to port..
469
00:32:16,168 --> 00:32:18,180
It's hard to ignore
the simple fact that there's
470
00:32:18,204 --> 00:32:19,614
a perfectly good railroad,
471
00:32:19,638 --> 00:32:22,250
spanning the length
of the shipping corridor
472
00:32:22,274 --> 00:32:23,685
from Lewiston to Portland.
473
00:32:23,709 --> 00:32:26,388
If area farmers continue
a recent progression
474
00:32:26,412 --> 00:32:28,356
towards shipping
their grain by rail,
475
00:32:28,380 --> 00:32:31,426
It'll be hard to deny that
barging is unnecessary.
476
00:32:31,450 --> 00:32:35,197
The lower Snake is technically
open to the public for recreation,
477
00:32:35,221 --> 00:32:37,265
but I'd heard stories
of boaters being harassed
478
00:32:37,289 --> 00:32:39,534
for simply trying
to paddle downstream.
479
00:32:39,558 --> 00:32:42,437
I wanted to see first hand if
there was any truth to that
480
00:32:42,461 --> 00:32:44,606
so I managed to talk my friend
Travis into one of
481
00:32:44,630 --> 00:32:46,208
the worst ideas I've ever had.
482
00:32:46,232 --> 00:32:48,243
But I'll get back
to that in a minute.
483
00:32:48,267 --> 00:32:50,545
In the meantime, I want to
introduce you to this fella,
484
00:32:50,569 --> 00:32:53,115
who randomly walked up
to the mic at a public meeting
485
00:32:53,139 --> 00:32:57,519
and managed to simultaneously end his
career and blow every mind in the room.
486
00:32:57,543 --> 00:33:00,588
I'm Jim Waddell, I'm not sure
I have a question but,
487
00:33:00,612 --> 00:33:02,057
I wanna tell you something.
488
00:33:02,081 --> 00:33:05,493
I'm from the Army
Corps of Engineers...
489
00:33:05,517 --> 00:33:08,130
From hearing all this stuff
about the lower Snake dams,
490
00:33:08,154 --> 00:33:10,365
and here I am, I know.
491
00:33:10,389 --> 00:33:13,368
I probably know better,
as a civil engineer,
492
00:33:13,392 --> 00:33:15,770
better than anyone in this
country about those dams,
493
00:33:15,794 --> 00:33:19,507
and given what I knew, I just
couldn't sit there any longer.
494
00:33:19,531 --> 00:33:23,245
And I'm going to get fired for
what I'm about to tell you here...
495
00:33:25,371 --> 00:33:27,082
...but it's time.
496
00:33:27,106 --> 00:33:29,684
Those dams are a travesty.
497
00:33:29,708 --> 00:33:31,686
They always have been,
498
00:33:31,710 --> 00:33:36,724
from the day that Congress first
authorized those, it's been a shame.
499
00:33:36,748 --> 00:33:41,329
Part of what I did
was to manage and lead
500
00:33:41,353 --> 00:33:44,399
the lower Snake
feasibility study.
501
00:33:44,423 --> 00:33:47,235
In 1995, the Army Corps
was forced to address
502
00:33:47,259 --> 00:33:49,771
the environmental impact
of the lower Snake dams
503
00:33:49,795 --> 00:33:52,774
when the Snake River sockeye
was listed as endangered.
504
00:33:52,798 --> 00:33:57,745
Their answer was the $35 million
lower Snake feasibility study.
505
00:33:57,769 --> 00:34:00,682
I read the thing,
I worked on this thing,
506
00:34:00,706 --> 00:34:05,220
and based on that, you know, I believed
those dams needed to come out.
507
00:34:05,244 --> 00:34:08,614
On the Snake River, for the Snake River
salmon, it's four dams too many.
508
00:34:09,548 --> 00:34:10,825
I mean, the taxpayers,
509
00:34:10,849 --> 00:34:12,660
the people
in Washington and Oregon,
510
00:34:12,684 --> 00:34:15,230
are not getting a good deal
out of those dams.
511
00:34:15,254 --> 00:34:19,425
They're losing fish, and the
economics are not helping them.
512
00:34:20,692 --> 00:34:22,870
So, anyway, it comes time
for a decision,
513
00:34:22,894 --> 00:34:26,408
the colonel sits down with
each one of us separately.
514
00:34:26,432 --> 00:34:28,143
And I read the first paragraph.
515
00:34:28,167 --> 00:34:29,711
And basically what it says is,
516
00:34:29,735 --> 00:34:32,247
that my recommendation,
based on this document,
517
00:34:32,271 --> 00:34:38,244
was that we should pursue professional
authorization to bridge the dams.
518
00:34:41,780 --> 00:34:44,126
Travis checked out
the Army Corps website
519
00:34:44,150 --> 00:34:46,261
and found a friendly
little page that detailed
520
00:34:46,285 --> 00:34:48,463
how to pass through
the Snake River lock system,
521
00:34:48,487 --> 00:34:50,565
if you're in
a non-motorized craft.
522
00:34:50,589 --> 00:34:52,834
This is where
my terrible idea was born.
523
00:34:52,858 --> 00:34:55,537
I wanted to see what
the Army Corps had once built
524
00:34:55,561 --> 00:34:57,439
as some sort
of recreational utopia.
525
00:34:57,463 --> 00:35:01,809
Everyone we spoke to in Lewiston confirmed
that it was a seriously bad idea.
526
00:35:01,833 --> 00:35:04,579
Even this piece of art seemed
like some sort of bad omen,
527
00:35:04,603 --> 00:35:09,375
as if every canoe in the state had been
retired as a memorial to a lost river.
528
00:35:10,776 --> 00:35:12,687
Our plan was to kayak
through all four locks,
529
00:35:12,711 --> 00:35:14,889
from Lewiston, Idaho
to Pasco, Washington,
530
00:35:14,913 --> 00:35:17,392
where our truck was parked
about 100 miles away.
531
00:35:17,416 --> 00:35:22,264
It seemed almost wrong to call this
seemingly dead body of water a river.
532
00:35:22,288 --> 00:35:26,301
Usually, if you stop paddling on a
river, you still move downstream.
533
00:35:26,325 --> 00:35:27,935
Here, not so much.
534
00:35:27,959 --> 00:35:30,405
Day one sucked.
535
00:35:30,429 --> 00:35:33,408
Usually, when it's 100 degree out, you
just look for a tree to sit under,
536
00:35:33,432 --> 00:35:35,109
but they were all under water.
537
00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:38,646
I was feeling pretty grumpy when
Travis turned the camera on me.
538
00:35:38,670 --> 00:35:42,817
I think he wanted me to admit that my
idea was a legend among bad ideas,
539
00:35:42,841 --> 00:35:45,487
but I wasn't ready to give him
the pleasure of knowing that.
540
00:35:45,511 --> 00:35:48,923
My nerves were wearing on me
as we approached the dam,
541
00:35:48,947 --> 00:35:51,293
mainly because
I'm a pessimist, but also
542
00:35:51,317 --> 00:35:53,595
because I can't swim
for shit and I kept imagining
543
00:35:53,619 --> 00:35:58,833
getting sucked through a turbine and
pureed like am out-migrating salmon.
544
00:35:58,857 --> 00:36:03,605
There was hardly anybody in the district
that would even talk to me anymore.
545
00:36:03,629 --> 00:36:05,540
Anybody that thinks we
should breach these dams,
546
00:36:05,564 --> 00:36:07,909
is obviously a communist
and doesn't belong, you know,
547
00:36:07,933 --> 00:36:13,481
to be working around here, so I've been
branded as not loyal to the organization.
548
00:36:13,505 --> 00:36:17,519
I kinda feel like
I failed at my job,
549
00:36:17,543 --> 00:36:19,987
because here I was
in charge of this study,
550
00:36:20,011 --> 00:36:26,294
and in spite of my best efforts, I
let $35 million worth of research
551
00:36:26,318 --> 00:36:28,463
end up ignored.
552
00:36:28,487 --> 00:36:32,234
As a public servant, that's our
job, to make hard decisions.
553
00:36:32,258 --> 00:36:34,569
I happened to end up with
someone that didn't have
554
00:36:34,593 --> 00:36:39,865
the fortitude or the strength to take
that decision and go forward with it.
555
00:36:43,802 --> 00:36:47,749
I think we can have
a win-win situation.
556
00:36:47,773 --> 00:36:52,654
Remove those dams, save the
taxpayer money, improve a habitat,
557
00:36:52,678 --> 00:36:56,023
put more dollars back
in this community
558
00:36:56,047 --> 00:36:58,526
because people will come here
to use this river.
559
00:36:58,550 --> 00:37:04,299
And not only is it important
to the ecosystem, it's amazing.
560
00:37:04,323 --> 00:37:10,004
Just amazing that they come 900
miles into the Snake River system.
561
00:37:10,028 --> 00:37:15,042
And it'd be a lot of teardrops
562
00:37:15,066 --> 00:37:19,046
of joy to see that
river running again.
563
00:37:19,070 --> 00:37:23,017
It's the largest
possible salmon recovery venture
564
00:37:23,041 --> 00:37:25,753
of which humanity is capable.
565
00:37:25,777 --> 00:37:28,823
Would be simply the removal
of those four dams.
566
00:37:28,847 --> 00:37:30,458
Nobody's ever heard of them.
567
00:37:30,482 --> 00:37:32,026
Nobody's ever been there.
568
00:37:32,050 --> 00:37:36,564
It has to become
a national issue.
569
00:37:36,588 --> 00:37:39,033
The Snake River
is a public waterway.
570
00:37:39,057 --> 00:37:43,571
Our tax dollars pay to maintain
these locks and these dams.
571
00:37:43,595 --> 00:37:46,040
The lower Snake feasibility
study was ignored,
572
00:37:46,064 --> 00:37:50,412
and Jim Waddell's recommendation
to breach the dams was removed.
573
00:37:50,436 --> 00:37:53,515
Despite hundreds of millions
a year, not one of the four
574
00:37:53,539 --> 00:37:57,676
endangered Snake River salmon
species has been delisted.
575
00:38:00,512 --> 00:38:03,958
There's a great good here
that belongs to the American people,
576
00:38:03,982 --> 00:38:06,861
that's being stolen
from the American people
577
00:38:06,885 --> 00:38:10,589
by a very small corrupt branch
of the federal government.
578
00:38:12,358 --> 00:38:14,369
The Army Corps website
said to pull a cord
579
00:38:14,393 --> 00:38:16,338
to speak with a log master
upon arrival,
580
00:38:16,362 --> 00:38:18,606
but we couldn't
find it anywhere.
581
00:38:18,630 --> 00:38:21,343
The last thing I wanted to do
was get out of my kayak,
582
00:38:21,367 --> 00:38:24,812
but I knew our window was
about to close any minute.
583
00:38:24,836 --> 00:38:27,982
I found a couple workers that
told me how to find the cord,
584
00:38:28,006 --> 00:38:31,076
but also warn me
that security was on the way.
585
00:38:32,778 --> 00:38:35,590
Right as I was about to pull
the elusive cord,
586
00:38:35,614 --> 00:38:37,992
we made some new friends.
587
00:38:38,016 --> 00:38:40,519
Hey, how's it going?
Not too bad...
588
00:38:44,723 --> 00:38:46,057
Yeah.
589
00:38:46,925 --> 00:38:48,093
Why not?
590
00:39:31,937 --> 00:39:34,148
I think we should get
the sheriff to come down.
591
00:39:34,172 --> 00:39:36,083
Don't you?
592
00:39:36,107 --> 00:39:38,486
And just like that,
I was off the hook.
593
00:39:38,510 --> 00:39:42,156
Travis had come up
with an idea worse than mine.
594
00:39:42,180 --> 00:39:43,991
Despite the depressing reality
of the situation,
595
00:39:44,015 --> 00:39:48,195
I couldn't stop laughing as two police
cars and Army Corps security truck
596
00:39:48,219 --> 00:39:52,500
were trying to figure out how to pull
over two kayaks from a nearby road.
597
00:39:52,524 --> 00:39:55,470
One of the more excited cops
deleted the video
598
00:39:55,494 --> 00:39:57,171
of the conversation
you're about to hear,
599
00:39:57,195 --> 00:39:58,940
but he didn't notice
the fuzzy microphone
600
00:39:58,964 --> 00:40:00,875
sticking out of my life jacket.
601
00:40:55,587 --> 00:40:58,032
The more the layers
peeled off this story,
602
00:40:58,056 --> 00:40:59,667
the deeper I wanted to go.
603
00:40:59,691 --> 00:41:02,637
There's one particularly
divisive issue
604
00:41:02,661 --> 00:41:05,807
when it comes to dams that no
one seems to want to talk about
605
00:41:05,831 --> 00:41:07,108
and that's fish hatcheries.
606
00:41:07,132 --> 00:41:09,577
But before we tackle that beast,
607
00:41:09,601 --> 00:41:11,946
I think it's important
to have a little appreciation
608
00:41:11,970 --> 00:41:14,906
for one of the species that
deserves our respect.
609
00:41:17,709 --> 00:41:21,756
You cannot have a
creature come in from the ocean
610
00:41:21,780 --> 00:41:25,165
and enter the extreme
state of vulnerability
611
00:41:25,177 --> 00:41:27,829
that is spawning
in shallow water.
612
00:41:27,853 --> 00:41:32,800
Unless the people in that watershed
agree to greet this wild creature
613
00:41:32,824 --> 00:41:35,260
with great compassion
and sensitivity.
614
00:41:38,697 --> 00:41:41,175
I think most people have
heard of a rainbow trout
615
00:41:41,199 --> 00:41:44,078
or had one wiggle out
of their hands at some point.
616
00:41:44,102 --> 00:41:48,683
Burt few have had the honor and
privilege of meeting a Steelhead
617
00:41:48,707 --> 00:41:51,152
These highly respected
sea run rainbows,
618
00:41:51,176 --> 00:41:54,055
have been severely
impacted by West Coast dams,
619
00:41:54,079 --> 00:41:57,925
and eliminated entirely
from some watersheds.
620
00:41:57,949 --> 00:42:00,962
It's not uncommon for a fly
fisherman to go weeks,
621
00:42:00,986 --> 00:42:03,965
or even a season, without
feeling a pull of a Steelhead
622
00:42:03,989 --> 00:42:08,059
but their devotion to these storied
creatures seems to fuel them.
623
00:42:09,761 --> 00:42:12,607
There's a uniquely cold
stretch of water in Oregon,
624
00:42:12,631 --> 00:42:17,645
where a pod of these wild steel head have
gathered for ages to rest before spawning.
625
00:42:17,669 --> 00:42:20,982
These particular fish have
a special friend named Lee
626
00:42:21,006 --> 00:42:23,050
who lives about 30 feet away.
627
00:42:23,074 --> 00:42:25,186
Lee is their guardian,
628
00:42:25,210 --> 00:42:27,088
and he's kept notes on
everything that happens
629
00:42:27,112 --> 00:42:30,291
in and around the river,
for nearly 12 hours a day,
630
00:42:30,315 --> 00:42:33,919
for six months a year,
for more than 13 years.
631
00:42:38,089 --> 00:42:42,637
This pool is known to a lot of
local people as the "dynamite hole"
632
00:42:42,661 --> 00:42:46,173
because of the two, possibly
three, humanly generations
633
00:42:46,197 --> 00:42:48,643
when dynamite
was readily available,
634
00:42:48,667 --> 00:42:50,712
and no one else was up here.
635
00:42:50,736 --> 00:42:53,915
And it was used in this pool,
636
00:42:53,939 --> 00:42:57,752
possibly as much as two,
sometimes three times a year.
637
00:42:57,776 --> 00:42:59,787
And, of course, for every
dynamiting, there are
638
00:42:59,811 --> 00:43:05,259
probably 20 or 30 snaggings
or nettings or you name it.
639
00:43:05,283 --> 00:43:08,046
To mess with fish that
have passed through the
640
00:43:08,058 --> 00:43:10,665
gauntlet that these
fish have gone through,
641
00:43:10,689 --> 00:43:16,662
after they're up here and home free,
just seems like it's ridiculous to me.
642
00:43:20,799 --> 00:43:24,111
One of the things that never
ceases to amaze me is,
643
00:43:24,135 --> 00:43:28,049
how curious these fish
are about everything.
644
00:43:28,073 --> 00:43:32,720
I think the curiosity that
I see possibly represents
645
00:43:32,744 --> 00:43:34,689
their feelings of vulnerability,
646
00:43:34,713 --> 00:43:36,357
of being in this pool.
647
00:43:36,381 --> 00:43:38,793
Which is, compared to the
Pacific Ocean, a puddle.
648
00:43:38,817 --> 00:43:43,698
And they sometimes respond,
idiosyncratically, to people.
649
00:43:43,722 --> 00:43:46,734
Some people put these fish
in a conniption fit.
650
00:43:46,758 --> 00:43:50,137
Some people have very little
effect on them whatsoever,
651
00:43:50,161 --> 00:43:52,707
and I'd be willing
to be that these fish
652
00:43:52,731 --> 00:43:55,710
have as fine an appreciation
of what's going on
653
00:43:55,734 --> 00:44:01,006
around this pool as I do and perhaps
finer, probably finer, in a lot of ways.
654
00:44:07,045 --> 00:44:12,226
You know the things that have influenced
me in life besides blind accident,
655
00:44:12,250 --> 00:44:14,461
are things of great amusement.
656
00:44:14,485 --> 00:44:19,266
One of the more amusing stories I
read about Steelhead fly fishing
657
00:44:19,290 --> 00:44:22,269
was by Gary Snyder,
and he said something like,
658
00:44:22,293 --> 00:44:25,940
"Well, we started fly fishing on
the Russian River for Steelhead
659
00:44:25,964 --> 00:44:29,010
Then we started taking
the points off our hooks.
660
00:44:29,034 --> 00:44:31,641
Then we started taking
the flies off our hooks
661
00:44:31,653 --> 00:44:34,115
and finally we just
decided to go swimming.
662
00:44:34,139 --> 00:44:38,052
And that's... there's something
very amusing about that,
663
00:44:38,076 --> 00:44:42,023
but very meaningful
and true, too.
664
00:44:42,047 --> 00:44:45,893
I think I needed something
to open my eyes
665
00:44:45,917 --> 00:44:52,057
to the beauty of the North Umpqua and
these emblematic fish that run her.
666
00:45:01,099 --> 00:45:05,112
It would be nice to think
that these fish know me,
667
00:45:05,136 --> 00:45:08,115
because I've been watching
them and their parents now
668
00:45:08,139 --> 00:45:14,756
for 13 years but I think that I would
just be playing a game with myself.
669
00:45:14,780 --> 00:45:20,427
Having Parkinson's has made me,
to a certain degree,
670
00:45:20,451 --> 00:45:26,267
more aware of the fact that this
will have to come to an end,
671
00:45:26,291 --> 00:45:29,828
perhaps sooner than I otherwise
would have liked it to.
672
00:45:32,130 --> 00:45:37,178
It's wonderful to have an
opportunity to do something
673
00:45:37,202 --> 00:45:42,917
as positive as this is,
and as simple as this is.
674
00:45:42,941 --> 00:45:46,144
That is a great gift to me.
675
00:45:51,082 --> 00:45:54,095
Well, I sometimes wonder
676
00:45:54,119 --> 00:45:58,866
what the final day will be
like for me here.
677
00:45:58,890 --> 00:46:01,168
I think that someone
will come along
678
00:46:01,192 --> 00:46:04,839
and continue
to stay with these fish.
679
00:46:04,863 --> 00:46:06,440
Because one thing is clear:
680
00:46:06,464 --> 00:46:09,911
It's too easy to get here
for there not to be
681
00:46:09,935 --> 00:46:13,180
a human presence here at all
times from this point on.
682
00:46:13,204 --> 00:46:16,875
And there will be.
I'm confident of that.
683
00:46:18,409 --> 00:46:23,357
Wild fish are the real deal.
We still have them, thank God.
684
00:46:23,381 --> 00:46:26,961
And hopefully we always will.
685
00:46:26,985 --> 00:46:30,164
The great beauty of wild fish
is we don't have to do
686
00:46:30,188 --> 00:46:35,093
a goddamn thing for them except
leave them the hell alone.
687
00:47:08,126 --> 00:47:11,538
Listen up! Since they've been
put through the chemical bath...
688
00:47:11,562 --> 00:47:15,442
...they are not fit for human consumption.
So we can't eat them.
689
00:47:15,466 --> 00:47:18,880
They are going to be processed
into fish fertilizer,
690
00:47:18,904 --> 00:47:21,182
like that stuff that maybe
your folks put on the garden.
691
00:47:21,206 --> 00:47:26,453
You dump it out, it's really gross looking.
It's super stinky, it makes stuff grow.
692
00:47:26,477 --> 00:47:28,222
They're big.
693
00:47:28,246 --> 00:47:29,223
They are big!
694
00:47:29,247 --> 00:47:31,592
GIRL
695
00:47:31,616 --> 00:47:34,352
No, no, no...
That's not why we kill them.
696
00:47:58,977 --> 00:48:01,255
Just like their wild
cousins, hatchery salmon
697
00:48:01,279 --> 00:48:05,026
sacrifice themselves for the next
generation by returning home to spawn.
698
00:48:05,050 --> 00:48:07,261
But for these Columbia River
hatchery fish,
699
00:48:07,285 --> 00:48:09,163
home is a government-run factory
700
00:48:09,187 --> 00:48:11,532
where they're beaten to death
and artificially spawn
701
00:48:11,556 --> 00:48:14,525
to create a very expensive
illusion of a salmon run.
702
00:48:16,494 --> 00:48:18,372
Historically,
hatcheries have been used
703
00:48:18,396 --> 00:48:20,607
as a way to justify
704
00:48:20,631 --> 00:48:23,945
trying to rebuild fish runs
without actually dealing
705
00:48:23,969 --> 00:48:26,047
with the root causes
of their decline.
706
00:48:26,071 --> 00:48:29,250
Sort of habitat change over
fishing and dam construction.
707
00:48:29,274 --> 00:48:32,086
It's a lot easier, basically,
to adopt the philosophy of,
708
00:48:32,110 --> 00:48:33,720
"Oh, we'll just make more fish."
709
00:48:33,744 --> 00:48:37,191
So I call it
a type of a whack theory
710
00:48:37,215 --> 00:48:42,463
where the question is how many
fish do people want to whack?
711
00:48:42,487 --> 00:48:45,099
And we'll try to produce those
and bring them back.
712
00:48:45,123 --> 00:48:49,303
But that isn't the same
as saving the salmon.
713
00:48:49,327 --> 00:48:52,073
Bonneville power rate
pairs are saddled with
714
00:48:52,097 --> 00:48:54,141
an $800 million a year burden
715
00:48:54,165 --> 00:48:56,243
to fund the Columbia
hatchery system.
716
00:48:56,267 --> 00:48:58,545
This is now the largest
fishing wildlife program
717
00:48:58,569 --> 00:49:00,381
in the United States.
718
00:49:00,405 --> 00:49:02,749
We're spending a lot of
money trying to get it right,
719
00:49:02,773 --> 00:49:08,146
but it's a business operation,
and it's a big business.
720
00:49:09,647 --> 00:49:12,026
Hatchery fish tend
to suck at life and equate
721
00:49:12,050 --> 00:49:14,695
to a bad return on investment
for a handful of reasons.
722
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:18,332
And I don't think you have to be a
fish biologist to understand why.
723
00:49:18,356 --> 00:49:20,767
If you're raised in a concrete
pool with no predators,
724
00:49:20,791 --> 00:49:24,471
where delicious brown pellets
mysteriously rain down from the sky,
725
00:49:24,495 --> 00:49:26,573
chances are you'll be pretty
naive when you're flushed
726
00:49:26,597 --> 00:49:28,409
out of the tube
into the real world.
727
00:49:28,433 --> 00:49:30,344
If you took
a bunch of suburban kids
728
00:49:30,368 --> 00:49:32,046
and dropped them off in the
middle of the Congo Jungle
729
00:49:32,070 --> 00:49:33,580
and told them to walk
to the coast,
730
00:49:33,604 --> 00:49:35,716
they're going to be
not very well-suited
731
00:49:35,740 --> 00:49:37,051
to survive well in that habitat.
732
00:49:37,075 --> 00:49:40,521
They release millions
and millions of smelts.
733
00:49:40,545 --> 00:49:44,391
Very, very few of them
come back. Very few.
734
00:49:44,415 --> 00:49:47,761
They're no different than
industrial agriculture.
735
00:49:47,785 --> 00:49:50,488
It's a disaster in the end.
736
00:49:53,224 --> 00:49:57,304
So it is true I was a critic
of the BPA's fish programs
737
00:49:57,328 --> 00:50:00,574
and now I operate
BPA's fish programs.
738
00:50:00,598 --> 00:50:04,078
We have hatchery legal
obligations to provide
739
00:50:04,102 --> 00:50:06,313
hatchery production
to support harvest.
740
00:50:06,337 --> 00:50:09,583
So the question is how do we do
that in the smartest possible way
741
00:50:09,607 --> 00:50:12,519
so we're not
impairing wild fish?
742
00:50:12,543 --> 00:50:15,589
That's an age old
question we continue to address
743
00:50:15,613 --> 00:50:19,560
and try to resolve is where is
that balance between providing
744
00:50:19,584 --> 00:50:22,563
hatchery stock that can
be fished and harvested
745
00:50:22,587 --> 00:50:27,101
without harming the native
population fish that are there.
746
00:50:27,125 --> 00:50:30,504
If you load up a stream
with lots of hatchery fish
747
00:50:30,528 --> 00:50:33,274
the wild fish that are still
in it can be out competed.
748
00:50:33,298 --> 00:50:35,376
If you look at, say,
the rivers New England,
749
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:37,511
the fish farm escapees
and hatchery fish
750
00:50:37,535 --> 00:50:41,082
outnumber the wild fish in their
own rivers 100-to-1 or so.
751
00:50:41,106 --> 00:50:44,551
Anybody outnumbered 100-to-1 is going
to have a hard time holding on.
752
00:50:44,575 --> 00:50:48,589
If we keep piling hatchery fish on top
of these salmon recovery efforts,
753
00:50:48,613 --> 00:50:52,193
we're crippling our chances
to really recover these systems.
754
00:50:52,217 --> 00:50:54,461
And the second problem
is they tend to breed
755
00:50:54,485 --> 00:50:56,730
with the wild fish that are
within that watershed
756
00:50:56,754 --> 00:50:59,600
and that's shown to reduce their
ability to produce offspring.
757
00:50:59,624 --> 00:51:04,438
The wild fish are genetically
diverse whereas a hatchery clone,
758
00:51:04,462 --> 00:51:07,208
it's a bunch of first cousins
fucking first cousins.
759
00:51:07,232 --> 00:51:09,243
So you end up with
a bunch of badeeps.
760
00:51:09,267 --> 00:51:12,713
They're immediately being
inbred out of existence.
761
00:51:12,737 --> 00:51:17,284
It really is like trying to replace
Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart
762
00:51:17,308 --> 00:51:19,553
with Yanni, Yanni and Yanni.
763
00:51:19,577 --> 00:51:21,588
No diversity.
764
00:51:21,612 --> 00:51:26,227
There is sort of this deep
psychological need or desire
765
00:51:26,251 --> 00:51:29,563
to control nature
and I think dams
766
00:51:29,587 --> 00:51:32,533
and hatcheries
are the same things.
767
00:51:32,557 --> 00:51:35,369
The whole purpose
of the $300 million Elwha Dam
768
00:51:35,393 --> 00:51:38,405
removal project was
to restore wild fish runs.
769
00:51:38,429 --> 00:51:40,441
But instead of letting things
happen naturally,
770
00:51:40,465 --> 00:51:43,544
16 million went to the Elwha
Klallam tribe to build a new
771
00:51:43,568 --> 00:51:48,349
fish hatchery and start pumping the Elwha
full of manufactured salmon and Steelhead.
772
00:51:48,373 --> 00:51:52,719
The one common element is to build
the dam you gotta put a hatchery in.
773
00:51:52,743 --> 00:51:54,588
To take it out,
we gotta put a hatchery in.
774
00:51:54,612 --> 00:51:58,259
Makes you kind of wonder
what the real purpose behind
775
00:51:58,283 --> 00:51:59,526
the desire for hatcheries are,
776
00:51:59,550 --> 00:52:01,695
and if there's other reasons
why they tend to be
777
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:07,601
very popular
than the good of the fish.
778
00:52:07,625 --> 00:52:12,497
I don't like to openly oppose something
that the tribe has a right to do...
779
00:52:14,199 --> 00:52:16,867
...but in this case I feel
like they're making a mistake.
780
00:52:20,638 --> 00:52:25,352
We're here to celebrate the largest
dam removal project in US history.
781
00:52:25,376 --> 00:52:28,555
An extraordinary opportunity
to watch more than 100 miles
782
00:52:28,579 --> 00:52:33,494
of pristine wild salmon habitat
return to its natural state
783
00:52:33,518 --> 00:52:36,663
as the Elwha reconnects
with the sea for the first time
784
00:52:36,687 --> 00:52:38,365
in nearly a century.
785
00:52:38,389 --> 00:52:41,268
The wild salmon of
the Pacific Ring of Fire,
786
00:52:41,292 --> 00:52:44,371
have evolved to repopulate
themselves in watersheds
787
00:52:44,395 --> 00:52:49,876
devastated by volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, glaciers, landslides.
788
00:52:49,900 --> 00:52:53,814
They're been doing it successfully
for millions of years.
789
00:52:53,838 --> 00:52:57,551
But because we've somehow
lost our faith in Mother Nature,
790
00:52:57,575 --> 00:53:01,755
we're about to start releasing
inbred, out of basin hatchery stocks
791
00:53:01,779 --> 00:53:03,490
into this
newly restored habitat.
792
00:53:03,514 --> 00:53:07,761
Despite overwhelming evidence showing
the presence of hatchery fish
793
00:53:07,785 --> 00:53:11,432
works as a powerful detriment
to wild salmon recovery,
794
00:53:11,456 --> 00:53:16,937
we insist, once again,
on helping the natural process.
795
00:53:16,961 --> 00:53:21,642
My wish that is that we could
somehow find the patience
796
00:53:21,666 --> 00:53:26,313
and the faith to let Mother Nature
do what she has always done.
797
00:53:26,337 --> 00:53:27,548
Thank you for your time.
798
00:53:42,853 --> 00:53:46,833
What do you think of people
799
00:53:46,857 --> 00:53:52,273
characterizing Floyd Dominy
as an enemy of the environment?
800
00:53:52,297 --> 00:53:55,642
Bulldozer in front of you
paving everything.
801
00:53:55,666 --> 00:53:57,878
How do you feel about that?
802
00:53:57,902 --> 00:54:01,282
I've changed
the environment. Yes.
803
00:54:01,306 --> 00:54:04,442
But I've changed it
for the benefit of man.
804
00:54:07,044 --> 00:54:10,457
It would be wrong to make
a film about dams in the US
805
00:54:10,481 --> 00:54:13,059
and leave out the story
of Glen Canyon.
806
00:54:13,083 --> 00:54:16,430
In the archeology profession,
there's a very unromantic term
807
00:54:16,454 --> 00:54:18,899
used when the sole purpose
of the job is to document
808
00:54:18,923 --> 00:54:23,961
cultural treasures before they are
flooded by a dam. They call it salvage.
809
00:54:30,335 --> 00:54:33,127
It was the biggest
single salvage project
810
00:54:33,139 --> 00:54:35,416
up to that point in
American history.
811
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:40,521
It was the most thorough thing of
its kind ever done at the time.
812
00:54:40,545 --> 00:54:43,757
I think by the end of 1958
when that picture was taken
813
00:54:43,781 --> 00:54:45,025
where we're all standing there
814
00:54:45,049 --> 00:54:47,093
we all had a pretty good idea
815
00:54:47,117 --> 00:54:49,720
that this was really something
very special.
816
00:54:51,422 --> 00:54:56,903
Glen Canyon Dam was
authorized in April of 1956.
817
00:54:56,927 --> 00:54:58,772
Colorado's Storage Project Act.
818
00:54:58,796 --> 00:55:03,410
We didn't have to relocate any railroads.
We didn't have to relocate any highways.
819
00:55:03,434 --> 00:55:06,680
We didn't have to
build the barrier, dikes,
820
00:55:06,704 --> 00:55:11,818
around any little towns. There was
nothing there. Nothing there.
821
00:55:11,842 --> 00:55:14,488
Did you ever meet Floyd Dominy?
822
00:55:14,512 --> 00:55:17,758
Oh, there we go. Yeah.
823
00:55:17,782 --> 00:55:21,061
No, I never met him. I'd have cut
his balls off if I'd have met him.
824
00:55:21,085 --> 00:55:25,065
Or I'd have somebody else do it.
825
00:55:25,089 --> 00:55:28,034
Deceptively called a
lake, Glen Canyon now rests
826
00:55:28,058 --> 00:55:31,472
under the second largest reservoir
in the country that flooded it.
827
00:55:31,496 --> 00:55:35,075
Glen Canyon Dam was essentially a bank
account for the Bureau of Reclamation,
828
00:55:35,099 --> 00:55:37,844
built to generate power that
would fund other projects
829
00:55:37,868 --> 00:55:41,382
and provide water to cool and
nearby coal fire power plant.
830
00:55:41,406 --> 00:55:45,986
An estimated 45 million tons of sediment
is trapped behind the dam annually,
831
00:55:46,010 --> 00:55:49,055
starving the Grand Canyon's
ecosystem downstream.
832
00:55:49,079 --> 00:55:52,459
Every year as Lake Powell
evaporates under the desert sun
833
00:55:52,483 --> 00:55:54,495
and seeps into
the porous sandstone,
834
00:55:54,519 --> 00:55:56,997
8% of the Colorado
River's flow disappears,
835
00:55:57,021 --> 00:55:59,800
one of many factors that
contribute to the river
836
00:55:59,824 --> 00:56:02,936
commonly drying up before it
reaches the gulf of California.
837
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:07,474
When construction began in
1957, two archeology teams
838
00:56:07,498 --> 00:56:09,643
began a five year push
to document more than
839
00:56:09,667 --> 00:56:13,680
250 culturally significant
sites in lower Glen Canyon.
840
00:56:13,704 --> 00:56:16,517
At the same time, a handful
of devoted river runners
841
00:56:16,541 --> 00:56:20,745
began the process of saying
goodbye to the place no one knew.
842
00:56:23,047 --> 00:56:26,693
The gates were going to close
and we had to at least be
843
00:56:26,717 --> 00:56:29,796
finished with what was
going to be flooded.
844
00:56:29,820 --> 00:56:32,899
It's going to go under but at
least we're going to salvage it
845
00:56:32,923 --> 00:56:35,702
so we'll have the stuff
and the records and the data
846
00:56:35,726 --> 00:56:39,573
so we can write books about it and
we can make museum displays about it
847
00:56:39,597 --> 00:56:41,007
and we can have a dam.
848
00:56:41,031 --> 00:56:44,869
So we can run around
on our boats. It's progress.
849
00:56:48,673 --> 00:56:52,453
Two guys and me,
it seemed to be a pattern.
850
00:56:52,477 --> 00:56:56,122
One of them old enough to
almost be my father and Tad,
851
00:56:56,146 --> 00:56:59,593
an old friend that I'd known
since I was in high school,
852
00:56:59,617 --> 00:57:02,529
and one's a photographer
and the other one knows
853
00:57:02,553 --> 00:57:05,932
the river very well, Frank.
Just friends.
854
00:57:05,956 --> 00:57:09,936
None of this hanky panky.
Nobody's trying to get laid
855
00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:15,609
and nobody's... we're just all
enchanted by what's around us.
856
00:57:15,633 --> 00:57:18,111
Why were you initially
afraid of it?
857
00:57:18,135 --> 00:57:22,583
Because I didn't know how to swim.
Because I'd never run a motorboat.
858
00:57:22,607 --> 00:57:25,018
Because I'd never
camped out in my life.
859
00:57:25,042 --> 00:57:28,855
Once you get through being
afraid of the country,
860
00:57:28,879 --> 00:57:31,825
it was a magical place.
Forgotten canyon.
861
00:57:31,849 --> 00:57:34,027
That was the high point,
I think.
862
00:57:34,051 --> 00:57:38,765
The people who walked away
about 1,300. 1,310, maybe.
863
00:57:38,789 --> 00:57:41,201
They left the ashes
in the fireplace.
864
00:57:41,225 --> 00:57:43,737
They left great big pots
sitting on the surface
865
00:57:43,761 --> 00:57:45,772
with food remains still in them.
866
00:57:45,796 --> 00:57:48,074
There was a ladder that still
went down into the Kiva,
867
00:57:48,098 --> 00:57:49,743
into the ceremonial chamber.
868
00:57:49,767 --> 00:57:52,879
They had just walked away.
1,000 years ago.
869
00:57:52,903 --> 00:57:56,282
Nobody's been here since.
That doesn't happen very often.
870
00:57:56,306 --> 00:58:01,855
Well, I actually hear
speaking in the wind sometimes.
871
00:58:01,879 --> 00:58:06,527
You go around the corner, well, everybody
hears a whistle here and there, but no...
872
00:58:06,551 --> 00:58:08,228
I heard more than whistles.
873
00:58:08,252 --> 00:58:11,665
And I said, there's something
queer about this place.
874
00:58:11,689 --> 00:58:14,067
Maybe it's scary.
At first it was.
875
00:58:14,091 --> 00:58:17,571
And then I thought, no,
I think there's just something
876
00:58:17,595 --> 00:58:22,142
here that's supposed
to be part of me.
877
00:58:22,166 --> 00:58:26,279
Hundred-and-twenty-five side canyons,
every one of them different.
878
00:58:26,303 --> 00:58:29,550
Every one of them with
a personality of its own.
879
00:58:29,574 --> 00:58:33,286
We would go around a corner
and spread out before us
880
00:58:33,310 --> 00:58:38,892
would be this incredible site that
A: Nobody had ever seen before.
881
00:58:38,916 --> 00:58:40,861
B: Nobody had touched it.
882
00:58:40,885 --> 00:58:44,097
C: It was utterly
an incredibly beautiful,
883
00:58:44,121 --> 00:58:45,932
everything was in the right
positions,
884
00:58:45,956 --> 00:58:49,302
all the colors were perfect.
885
00:58:49,326 --> 00:58:52,606
All the senses came
just flashing out.
886
00:58:52,630 --> 00:58:54,875
I could hear better,
I could feel better.
887
00:58:54,899 --> 00:58:59,279
I could speak better,
everything just amplified.
888
00:58:59,303 --> 00:59:03,016
What was it like to walk
naked through Glen Canyon?
889
00:59:04,709 --> 00:59:07,120
Well, I'm sorry, but I can
hardly explain that.
890
00:59:07,144 --> 00:59:12,149
It was just absolutely the most
natural thing in the world.
891
01:00:05,235 --> 01:00:07,714
And this one I keep to myself.
892
01:00:07,738 --> 01:00:09,282
I never let this one out.
893
01:00:09,306 --> 01:00:12,677
I might decide to let
you guys have it.
894
01:00:19,850 --> 01:00:22,286
You know, I never dream
about it.
895
01:00:23,921 --> 01:00:27,868
It's because it's on my mind
all day long, every day.
896
01:00:27,892 --> 01:00:29,703
There's no...
897
01:00:29,727 --> 01:00:32,997
I don't need to dream about it.
I think about it all the time.
898
01:00:33,998 --> 01:00:36,000
What was lost?
899
01:00:37,301 --> 01:00:39,770
Eden.
900
01:00:42,406 --> 01:00:47,211
I don't think Eden could have
touched Glen Canyon.
901
01:01:01,225 --> 01:01:04,270
We flooded out the
rattlesnakes and the prairie dogs
902
01:01:04,294 --> 01:01:08,241
and a few deer
and a beaver or two.
903
01:01:08,265 --> 01:01:11,878
That's all that was flooded out
when we... and a lot of beauty.
904
01:01:11,902 --> 01:01:13,947
But we created
a lot more beauty.
905
01:01:13,971 --> 01:01:17,250
And we made it available,
which it wasn't before.
906
01:01:17,274 --> 01:01:22,723
We haven't destroyed the world.
907
01:01:22,747 --> 01:01:26,760
We've made it habitable
for a lot more people.
908
01:01:26,784 --> 01:01:31,765
A young man not long ago
said to me he said,
909
01:01:31,789 --> 01:01:36,336
"Are you a hero or a villain
based on your record as
910
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:38,338
Commissioner of Reclamation?"
911
01:01:38,362 --> 01:01:41,975
I said, "I think I'm a hero or
should be considered it by you
912
01:01:41,999 --> 01:01:45,345
because you wouldn't be here if it
weren't for the development of the West
913
01:01:45,369 --> 01:01:48,205
sponsored by
the Bureau of Reclamation.
914
01:01:50,941 --> 01:01:53,854
Possibly the most
hypocritical sign in history
915
01:01:53,878 --> 01:01:57,223
is bolted to Glen Canyon Dam's
most popular overlook.
916
01:01:57,247 --> 01:02:01,527
It warns that defacing natural
features destroys our heritage.
917
01:02:01,551 --> 01:02:04,053
I can't at it without
imagining Edward Abbey
918
01:02:04,065 --> 01:02:06,532
rolling over in his
unmarked desert grave.
919
01:02:06,556 --> 01:02:10,303
If you've never heard of Ed, you might mane
heard of his book, The Monkey Wrench Game,
920
01:02:10,327 --> 01:02:13,206
that inspired an environmental
movement called Earth First.
921
01:02:13,230 --> 01:02:16,810
His first act of civil disobedience
just so happened to go down
922
01:02:16,834 --> 01:02:20,914
in Glen Canyon Dam,
on March 21st, 1981.
923
01:02:20,938 --> 01:02:25,085
I think we are morally
justified to resort whatever
924
01:02:25,109 --> 01:02:29,389
means are necessary in order to
defend our land from destruction.
925
01:02:29,413 --> 01:02:35,328
Invasion.
I see this as an invasion.
926
01:02:35,352 --> 01:02:39,432
These look like
creatures from Mars to me.
927
01:02:39,456 --> 01:02:43,937
I feel no kinship with that
fantastic structure over there.
928
01:02:43,961 --> 01:02:47,197
No sympathy with it whatsoever.
929
01:02:49,166 --> 01:02:52,212
Yeah, I would advocate sabotage.
930
01:02:52,236 --> 01:02:58,051
Subversion as a last resort
when political means fail.
931
01:02:58,075 --> 01:03:03,356
When I had sent he plastic
crack and when I saw pictures of it
932
01:03:03,380 --> 01:03:05,125
talking to people and
brainstorming...
933
01:03:05,149 --> 01:03:07,060
How can we up this?
934
01:03:07,084 --> 01:03:09,996
Wouldn't it be cool if we
could paint the crack?
935
01:03:10,020 --> 01:03:12,298
And it was clearly impossible
on a damn like Glen Canyon.
936
01:03:12,322 --> 01:03:14,334
There's no way you could ever
get away with it.
937
01:03:14,358 --> 01:03:17,494
But if we had a damn that was
unguarded at night it would work.
938
01:03:21,331 --> 01:03:23,910
At the time,
Earth First does a shirt.
939
01:03:23,934 --> 01:03:26,246
It's a hand with a wrench that
says defend the wilderness.
940
01:03:26,270 --> 01:03:28,481
I was wearing that shirt out
on the dam looking down
941
01:03:28,505 --> 01:03:30,984
over the edge with this
kayak on the roof
942
01:03:31,008 --> 01:03:32,385
that says I'd
rather be monkey wrenching.
943
01:03:32,409 --> 01:03:36,556
You just don't frickin' do that.
944
01:03:36,580 --> 01:03:39,392
At one point I looked over
and there's a ranger
945
01:03:39,416 --> 01:03:44,064
looking at me with binoculars
and I go, "Oh shit!"
946
01:03:44,088 --> 01:03:47,267
There's always a little period
where you have butterflies,
947
01:03:47,291 --> 01:03:49,602
going, "Oh shit,
are we going to do this?"
948
01:03:49,626 --> 01:03:52,238
It's ridiculous.
949
01:03:52,262 --> 01:03:54,640
Michael and his friends
made history that night,
950
01:03:54,664 --> 01:03:57,477
leaving their mark
on the 430 foot face.
951
01:03:57,501 --> 01:04:01,547
Photos of the crack were wired to
newspapers across the country.
952
01:04:01,571 --> 01:04:05,051
The plan seemed flawless
until it wasn't.
953
01:04:05,075 --> 01:04:08,922
And the same ranger who
was at the dam, pulls up behind me.
954
01:04:08,946 --> 01:04:11,457
He says, "What's your name?" I say, Phil
or something. I just made up a name.
955
01:04:11,481 --> 01:04:14,560
He's sort of beating around
the bush, asking questions,
956
01:04:14,584 --> 01:04:17,030
finally he asked for ID and I
said, sure, and then he goes,
957
01:04:17,054 --> 01:04:18,164
"Wait a minute,
you said your name was Bill."
958
01:04:18,188 --> 01:04:19,465
This is a federal cop.
959
01:04:19,489 --> 01:04:21,567
He knows what he's doing.
At that point I had been
960
01:04:21,591 --> 01:04:24,070
arrested a bunch for sitting
in trees and locking my neck
961
01:04:24,094 --> 01:04:27,440
to corporate headquarters and chaining
myself to bulldozers and you know.
962
01:04:27,464 --> 01:04:32,212
Was I nervous? I'm sure I was. Probably
inside my shoes, my toes are going...
963
01:04:32,236 --> 01:04:33,546
Finally, he gets to
the point where he says,
964
01:04:33,570 --> 01:04:36,349
"okay, look. I'm a fan of Ed
Abbey's, I read the book,"
965
01:04:36,373 --> 01:04:38,218
and I assume he meant
the Monkey Wrench Gang.
966
01:04:38,242 --> 01:04:39,953
He said, "We had an incident
out on the dam last night.
967
01:04:39,977 --> 01:04:41,521
If you anything about what
happened out there..."
968
01:04:41,545 --> 01:04:43,389
Blah blah...
three or four questions,
969
01:04:43,413 --> 01:04:47,084
I said "No, no, no." He said, "okay.
Well, you're free to go."
970
01:04:48,685 --> 01:04:52,957
You know? I mean, I walked
on that one. He had me.
971
01:04:55,592 --> 01:04:56,769
We did the Hetch Hetchy crack.
972
01:04:56,793 --> 01:04:59,005
Learned, kind of,
how to do it and realized,
973
01:04:59,029 --> 01:05:01,407
"Oh, this is really cool.
We need to do more of this."
974
01:05:01,431 --> 01:05:05,946
The Earth First group stayed
around the area for a while.
975
01:05:05,970 --> 01:05:10,216
And then we got wind that they were
going to do something up at the dam.
976
01:05:10,240 --> 01:05:13,586
We put an extra ranger
on duty that night.
977
01:05:13,610 --> 01:05:16,022
We drove up there that night, and
that's the first time I saw it.
978
01:05:16,046 --> 01:05:19,583
I said, "Oh, this is
right for a crack."
979
01:05:22,719 --> 01:05:25,966
Dropped my gear off, schlepped
it all out over the fence,
980
01:05:25,990 --> 01:05:29,235
drove back down, parked the van, got on
my bicycle, rode up there stashed it,
981
01:05:29,259 --> 01:05:32,472
Glines Canyon is near vertical.
It's very steep. It's dark.
982
01:05:32,496 --> 01:05:36,109
It's a damp, slippery dam and
a 200 foot abyss right below.
983
01:05:36,133 --> 01:05:39,145
So we've got this rope straight across
here and I clipped my rappel rope
984
01:05:39,169 --> 01:05:42,582
into that, locked it off, five-gallon
bucket of paint, hooked on my harness,
985
01:05:42,606 --> 01:05:45,485
and I hung off the edge of the
dam and just let go.
986
01:05:45,509 --> 01:05:48,354
I remember this moment well.
It was dynamic rope, not static.
987
01:05:48,378 --> 01:05:50,490
So it stretched a lot.
It just went...
988
01:05:50,514 --> 01:05:52,292
At one point I was sure
I was going to get busted.
989
01:05:52,316 --> 01:05:54,760
Everything was taped up
to be quiet, but that bucket.
990
01:05:54,784 --> 01:05:57,763
When I jumped, that thing kind of swung
and smacked into the side of the dam.
991
01:05:57,787 --> 01:06:00,300
It was just so loud
and I was like, "Oh shit!"
992
01:06:00,324 --> 01:06:04,704
The guy who got through,
painted a huge crack,
993
01:06:04,728 --> 01:06:08,408
and then off to the side
he wrote, "Elwha be free!"
994
01:06:08,432 --> 01:06:12,512
I'd swing way over and I'd paint a bit
with the roller and I'd go swinging back.
995
01:06:12,536 --> 01:06:14,414
I had a couple of moves,
back and fourth, get going,
996
01:06:14,438 --> 01:06:16,316
get over there
and paint a little bit more.
997
01:06:16,340 --> 01:06:18,718
My fingernails, my hair, my ears,
my eyes I was covered in paint.
998
01:06:18,742 --> 01:06:24,157
So I finished the Be Free part,
finished that, and I was out of paint.
999
01:06:24,181 --> 01:06:27,029
I've got "Elw Be Free!"
And I was like, "No, I
1000
01:06:27,041 --> 01:06:29,729
can't! There's no way.
I can't leave this."
1001
01:06:29,753 --> 01:06:32,732
Nothing worse than having
a gigantic typo on a dam.
1002
01:06:32,756 --> 01:06:35,535
I just could not live with it.
I just dropped everything,
1003
01:06:35,559 --> 01:06:37,670
left it all on top of the dam,
ran up, grabbed my bike,
1004
01:06:37,694 --> 01:06:40,240
zipped down, jumped in the van.
I had two quarts of paint.
1005
01:06:40,264 --> 01:06:42,342
Like a gray
and a green or something.
1006
01:06:42,366 --> 01:06:44,610
Mixed them up really quick,
changed the anchor, rappel down.
1007
01:06:44,634 --> 01:06:47,280
Dawn is really close. Somebody
could show up at any minute.
1008
01:06:47,304 --> 01:06:50,483
And I'm making all this noise. Now I wasn't
even being careful. I was just going for it.
1009
01:06:50,507 --> 01:06:53,243
If I'm busted, I'm busted.
I want to have it finished.
1010
01:07:03,453 --> 01:07:07,700
It was a beautiful crack. The guy was
an artist. There was no question of it.
1011
01:07:07,724 --> 01:07:11,804
And he did that all in one night.
It was an amazing feat.
1012
01:07:11,828 --> 01:07:14,440
And he was interviewed recently.
1013
01:07:14,464 --> 01:07:17,077
Said he didn't want to be
remembered for that,
1014
01:07:17,101 --> 01:07:21,681
but boy, I think he should.
He should be.
1015
01:07:21,705 --> 01:07:28,278
I think that sort of woke up people to
the fact that something had to be done.
1016
01:07:45,762 --> 01:07:49,742
Water is the same
as the blood in our bodies.
1017
01:07:49,766 --> 01:07:52,578
Stagnation brings on death.
1018
01:07:52,602 --> 01:07:55,485
People who are in their
last throes, the
1019
01:07:55,497 --> 01:07:58,684
blood is barely moving
through their bodies.
1020
01:07:58,708 --> 01:08:01,421
There are parts of their bodies
that there is no flow at all.
1021
01:08:01,445 --> 01:08:05,291
Rivers are regions with that
same kind of stagnation.
1022
01:08:05,315 --> 01:08:07,493
When it's all slack
water reservoirs,
1023
01:08:07,517 --> 01:08:13,499
its uses are really limited
and it's not vibrantly alive.
1024
01:08:13,523 --> 01:08:15,958
As soon as the
reservoirs were drained
1025
01:08:15,970 --> 01:08:18,538
the Elwha found its path
of least resistance,
1026
01:08:18,562 --> 01:08:20,273
and carved a new river channel,
1027
01:08:20,297 --> 01:08:23,476
in the process revealing
something long forgotten.
1028
01:08:23,500 --> 01:08:28,181
Preserved under a century of sediment
were the remains of an old growth forest
1029
01:08:28,205 --> 01:08:31,384
that had been clear cut
when the dams were built.
1030
01:08:31,408 --> 01:08:35,688
Almost instantaneously, the Elwha's
watershed was coming back to life.
1031
01:08:35,712 --> 01:08:38,591
Just a year after the removal
of the lower dam,
1032
01:08:38,615 --> 01:08:41,461
biologists were counting fish
by the thousands in stretches
1033
01:08:41,485 --> 01:08:44,464
of the Elwha that hadn't seen
a salmon in 99 years.
1034
01:08:44,488 --> 01:08:48,668
The beautiful thing about
Salmon? They're incredibly resilient.
1035
01:08:48,692 --> 01:08:51,737
If you give them half a chance,
they can come back in many ways.
1036
01:08:51,761 --> 01:08:55,575
But you have to give them
at least that half a chance.
1037
01:08:55,599 --> 01:08:58,444
When Glines Canyon Dam
is fully removed upstream,
1038
01:08:58,468 --> 01:09:01,647
Salmon and Steelhead
70 miles of new habitat,
1039
01:09:01,671 --> 01:09:04,484
reviving the flow of nutrients
between the Pacific Ocean
1040
01:09:04,508 --> 01:09:08,221
and the mountains
of Olympic National Park.
1041
01:09:08,245 --> 01:09:12,558
The science and engineering behind removing
the Elwha Dams was totally experimental.
1042
01:09:12,582 --> 01:09:16,696
There's no handbook to consult because
it's never been done before at this scale.
1043
01:09:16,720 --> 01:09:18,764
In almost every case,
the biggest hurdle
1044
01:09:18,788 --> 01:09:21,834
for dam removal engineers
lies behind the dams.
1045
01:09:21,858 --> 01:09:23,736
Decades of silt, sand, gravel,
and wood that should have
1046
01:09:23,760 --> 01:09:29,209
been flushed naturally through a watershed
has stockpiled in the reservoirs.
1047
01:09:29,233 --> 01:09:31,244
Different dams will last
for different periods of time
1048
01:09:31,268 --> 01:09:33,746
based on how much sediment they
trap coming down the river.
1049
01:09:33,770 --> 01:09:36,249
So when the reservoir
fills with mud,
1050
01:09:36,273 --> 01:09:40,253
it's kind of outlived
a lot of it's utility.
1051
01:09:40,277 --> 01:09:43,289
The plan at the Elwha was
to chip away at the walls slowly,
1052
01:09:43,313 --> 01:09:46,592
releasing sediment through the
watershed just a little at a time.
1053
01:09:46,616 --> 01:09:49,562
Massive plumes of silt
could be seen reaching miles
1054
01:09:49,586 --> 01:09:51,531
under the ocean at the mouth
of the Elwha,
1055
01:09:51,555 --> 01:09:53,566
restoring a coastline
that had been eroded
1056
01:09:53,590 --> 01:09:55,401
to bare stone in places.
1057
01:09:55,425 --> 01:09:58,003
These natural sediment flows
are insanely critical
1058
01:09:58,027 --> 01:10:00,773
to river habitats, wetlands,
offshore environments,
1059
01:10:00,797 --> 01:10:07,780
and to protect coastal communities
from storm surges and sea level rise.
1060
01:10:07,804 --> 01:10:12,485
Three hundred miles east of the Elwha, the
second largest dam removal in US history
1061
01:10:12,509 --> 01:10:15,721
was already underway on
Washington's White Salmon River.
1062
01:10:15,745 --> 01:10:18,858
The tributary to the Columbia
River, the White Salmon was
1063
01:10:18,882 --> 01:10:23,863
once home to a vibrant salmon run
before Condit Dam was built in 1913.
1064
01:10:23,887 --> 01:10:27,032
The White Salmon has since developed
a reputation as a world class
1065
01:10:27,056 --> 01:10:31,704
whitewater destination in the
stretches above the dam site.
1066
01:10:31,728 --> 01:10:36,476
In 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission forced PacifiCorp,
1067
01:10:36,500 --> 01:10:40,813
the dam's owner, to either build an
extremely expensive fish passage facility,
1068
01:10:40,837 --> 01:10:44,617
or to decommission the dam in order
to meet environmental codes.
1069
01:10:44,641 --> 01:10:47,287
Knowing the dam's contribution
to the power grid
1070
01:10:47,311 --> 01:10:49,555
could be replaced by
as few as three windmills,
1071
01:10:49,579 --> 01:10:53,593
PacifiCorp chose to scrap Condit and
save their ratepayers some money.
1072
01:10:53,617 --> 01:10:57,597
Before the removal process
began, a not so subtle hint
1073
01:10:57,621 --> 01:11:01,691
was dropped that the river community
was ready for Condit to be gone.
1074
01:11:18,808 --> 01:11:24,023
A year ago I was here
at the White Salmon River
1075
01:11:24,047 --> 01:11:27,460
when the dam blew
there was this moment
1076
01:11:27,484 --> 01:11:29,895
where there was the countdown
1077
01:11:29,919 --> 01:11:33,599
and there's this moment of silence.
You're kind of wondering,
1078
01:11:33,623 --> 01:11:34,967
"Is it really going to happen?"
1079
01:11:34,991 --> 01:11:40,296
And then, you could feel
the ground shake.
1080
01:11:44,934 --> 01:11:47,880
The plan to remove Condit was a
little more aggressive than the Elwha.
1081
01:11:47,904 --> 01:11:52,452
It involved 800 pounds of dynamite
stuffed into the end of a 90-foot tunnel
1082
01:11:52,476 --> 01:11:54,654
that had been drilled
at the base of the dam.
1083
01:11:54,678 --> 01:11:57,423
The theory was that the weight
of the reservoir would flush
1084
01:11:57,447 --> 01:11:59,525
a century worth of sediment
through the tunnel
1085
01:11:59,549 --> 01:12:03,763
and downstream to the Columbia
in one dramatic pulse.
1086
01:12:03,787 --> 01:12:06,866
Due to the concussive
forces of the blast,
1087
01:12:06,890 --> 01:12:11,103
there was heightened level
of nervousness, if you will.
1088
01:12:11,127 --> 01:12:14,440
There was the possibility
of infiltration by folks
1089
01:12:14,464 --> 01:12:17,443
wanting to get a closer look;
Video, etc.
1090
01:12:17,467 --> 01:12:21,046
It came as no surprise when we were
denied permission to film the blast.
1091
01:12:21,070 --> 01:12:24,950
But I didn't want that little detail to get
in the way of actually filming the blast.
1092
01:12:24,974 --> 01:12:27,853
A couple of days before,
we scouted a hillside
1093
01:12:27,877 --> 01:12:30,690
with a good few of the dam
and built a crappy camera blind
1094
01:12:30,714 --> 01:12:32,725
for me to hide in for 18 hours.
1095
01:12:32,749 --> 01:12:35,094
Blast day was
unbelievably stressful.
1096
01:12:35,118 --> 01:12:37,397
If you've ever hid
in the woods from a guy
1097
01:12:37,421 --> 01:12:39,632
with binoculars and
a surveillance helicopter,
1098
01:12:39,656 --> 01:12:41,801
I'm sure you can totally relate.
1099
01:12:41,825 --> 01:12:44,637
At one point my mom called to tell
me that she had read somewhere
1100
01:12:44,661 --> 01:12:46,972
that the explosion
could make my ears bleed.
1101
01:12:46,996 --> 01:12:50,175
But luckily that thought had already
crossed my mind at the hardware store.
1102
01:12:50,199 --> 01:12:54,747
When the helicopter finally cleared
the area, everything was quiet.
1103
01:12:54,771 --> 01:12:57,407
And I knew the horn
would come soon.
1104
01:13:57,767 --> 01:14:01,213
You know, you start on a
project like this and it seems
1105
01:14:01,237 --> 01:14:04,917
so big and so insurmountable
and it's just...
1106
01:14:04,941 --> 01:14:08,854
The forces against you are
so intense and it feels like
1107
01:14:08,878 --> 01:14:14,193
many days that you're just never going
to get there and we finally did it.
1108
01:14:14,217 --> 01:14:18,598
This is day that I've dreamed
about for over a decade
1109
01:14:18,622 --> 01:14:23,636
and today is the day that we just
get out to float down the river
1110
01:14:23,660 --> 01:14:25,960
and enjoy this place
that we've all been
1111
01:14:25,972 --> 01:14:28,574
working so hard to restore
for so many years.
1112
01:14:28,598 --> 01:14:32,669
♪ Summer sailed in
1113
01:14:34,137 --> 01:14:37,974
♪ Filled my mind you see
1114
01:14:39,643 --> 01:14:42,646
♪ Coloring my skin
1115
01:14:45,782 --> 01:14:48,818
♪ I must say
1116
01:14:51,020 --> 01:14:53,298
♪ Saw my wings
1117
01:14:53,322 --> 01:14:56,569
♪ With the bodies
in the gutter ♪
1118
01:14:56,593 --> 01:14:58,671
♪ Feel my kiss
1119
01:14:58,695 --> 01:15:02,742
♪ Not say the word
1120
01:15:02,766 --> 01:15:04,844
♪ Knowing my hands
1121
01:15:04,868 --> 01:15:10,249
♪ They'll shake like crazy..
1122
01:15:12,942 --> 01:15:16,556
When I first started this
and got involved in dam removal
1123
01:15:16,580 --> 01:15:18,090
and asked myself the question,
1124
01:15:18,114 --> 01:15:21,794
"What is it that makes
a dam removal happen?"
1125
01:15:21,818 --> 01:15:26,766
And you might think that it's
policies or politics or maybe
1126
01:15:26,790 --> 01:15:28,200
it's the guy with the plunger.
1127
01:15:28,224 --> 01:15:29,802
But when it comes down to it,
1128
01:15:29,826 --> 01:15:33,005
it's people who are passionate
about the river.
1129
01:15:33,029 --> 01:15:35,608
And it's the people who are
out there kayaking,
1130
01:15:35,632 --> 01:15:37,777
it's the people who
are out there fishing,
1131
01:15:37,801 --> 01:15:41,180
it's the people who are out there just
sitting on the banks of the river,
1132
01:15:41,204 --> 01:15:43,816
enjoying the place,
and it's the passion of those
1133
01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:47,210
individuals that makes it all
real and makes it happen.
1134
01:15:51,948 --> 01:15:55,828
If you think of all the
sort of resources that our descendants
1135
01:15:55,852 --> 01:15:58,263
are going to really value in
say, 200 or 300 years,
1136
01:15:58,287 --> 01:16:02,167
and as a geologist I can think that long
and not think that's too far out of line,
1137
01:16:02,191 --> 01:16:08,240
a resource that fends for itself, grows
a huge source of proteins and omega 3s,
1138
01:16:08,264 --> 01:16:11,677
that then swims home so that
you can harvest half of them,
1139
01:16:11,701 --> 01:16:16,248
you can take half of a salmon fishery, eat
it, and they'll keep replacing themselves.
1140
01:16:16,272 --> 01:16:19,151
I mean,
what kind of a gift is that?
1141
01:16:19,175 --> 01:16:22,054
What kind of a species
throws that away?
1142
01:16:22,078 --> 01:16:24,256
And if we look towards feeding
the world in the future,
1143
01:16:24,280 --> 01:16:29,953
It's insanity to not try and recover
salmon runs as far as we can.
1144
01:16:37,026 --> 01:16:40,640
We may have fueled the
early industry in this country
1145
01:16:40,664 --> 01:16:42,274
and the industrial revolution
in this country,
1146
01:16:42,298 --> 01:16:44,744
but we've wiped out our
fisheries in the process.
1147
01:16:44,768 --> 01:16:48,147
So, just because a dam has been
sitting in a river for 200 years
1148
01:16:48,171 --> 01:16:51,684
does not mean that it's going
to stay there for the next 200.
1149
01:16:51,708 --> 01:16:55,387
The state of Maine has over
800 dams, many of them obsolete
1150
01:16:55,411 --> 01:16:59,759
and still causing a lot of harm to
their watersheds two centuries later.
1151
01:16:59,783 --> 01:17:02,862
For most sea run fish, efforts
to mandate these impacts
1152
01:17:02,886 --> 01:17:05,831
with fish ladders or elevators
haven't solved the problem.
1153
01:17:05,855 --> 01:17:09,234
In 2010, the Penobscot River
Restoration Trust came up
1154
01:17:09,258 --> 01:17:13,706
with a pretty wild idea: The trust
raised $24 million and purchased
1155
01:17:13,730 --> 01:17:18,443
three dams on the Penobscot River
from the local power company.
1156
01:17:18,467 --> 01:17:22,782
Here we are. As we sit here today
we own three Penobscot Dams.
1157
01:17:22,806 --> 01:17:25,113
And it feels good to own
three Penobscot Dams
1158
01:17:25,125 --> 01:17:27,243
knowing what we're
going to do with them.
1159
01:17:40,189 --> 01:17:42,868
Charles Lindbergh
said something pretty amazing.
1160
01:17:42,892 --> 01:17:48,874
He said, "If I have to choose between
birds and airplanes. I choose birds."
1161
01:17:48,898 --> 01:17:54,113
To paraphrase: If I had to choose between
electricity and fish, I'd choose fish.
1162
01:17:54,137 --> 01:17:58,483
The Atlantic Salmon Federation
has called the Penobscot Project
1163
01:17:58,507 --> 01:18:01,487
the best and perhaps the
last chance of restoring
1164
01:18:01,499 --> 01:18:04,023
a major run of Atlantic
Salmon in the US.
1165
01:18:04,047 --> 01:18:08,060
One thousand miles of habitat was
reopened to migrating species
1166
01:18:08,084 --> 01:18:12,297
like salmon, sturgeon, American
shad, river herring and eel.
1167
01:18:12,321 --> 01:18:17,903
Seeing the results of all this
effort actually come to something
1168
01:18:17,927 --> 01:18:20,740
boiled with life which we had
predicted it would
1169
01:18:20,764 --> 01:18:26,335
and actually
see it happen... is awesome.
1170
01:18:55,364 --> 01:18:57,810
The most ambitious
river restoration project
1171
01:18:57,834 --> 01:19:02,114
every proposed in the US is slated to
begin in 2020 on the Klamath River,
1172
01:19:02,138 --> 01:19:06,485
which originates in Oregon and flows
through California to the Pacific.
1173
01:19:06,509 --> 01:19:10,022
In a historic settlement, tribes,
farmers, commercial fishermen,
1174
01:19:10,046 --> 01:19:14,493
and the owner of the Klamath Dams have all
signed off on the billion dollar project.
1175
01:19:14,517 --> 01:19:17,062
But one significant
hurdle remains.
1176
01:19:17,086 --> 01:19:20,966
It's now up to Congress to give the
project final approval to move forward.
1177
01:19:20,990 --> 01:19:24,169
With no fish passage at all,
before Klamath Dams
1178
01:19:24,193 --> 01:19:28,207
annihilated the third most productive
salmon fishery in the lower 48,
1179
01:19:28,231 --> 01:19:30,782
and caused toxic algae
blooms in the reservoirs
1180
01:19:30,794 --> 01:19:33,036
that have wreaked havoc
on water quality.
1181
01:19:34,570 --> 01:19:38,550
Like all constructed things,
dams have a finite lifetime.
1182
01:19:38,574 --> 01:19:41,553
It's not time to pull out every
dam in the country.
1183
01:19:41,577 --> 01:19:43,989
It would be
economically foolish.
1184
01:19:44,013 --> 01:19:47,259
But it would be just as foolish
not to rethink every dam
1185
01:19:47,283 --> 01:19:49,461
in the country and try to
decide, which are the ones
1186
01:19:49,485 --> 01:19:51,596
that actually still make sense
in the 21st century?
1187
01:19:51,620 --> 01:19:54,900
And which are those that we can
get more value both
1188
01:19:54,924 --> 01:19:58,203
economically, culturally,
aesthetically, morally,
1189
01:19:58,227 --> 01:20:01,073
and ecologically out of a river
system by sending it
1190
01:20:01,097 --> 01:20:04,233
part way back to a state
that it was in naturally?
1191
01:20:16,980 --> 01:20:20,492
The history of thinking in the
western world is radical ideas
1192
01:20:20,516 --> 01:20:23,128
eventually can become
conventional
1193
01:20:23,152 --> 01:20:26,198
and a couple of decades ago it
was radical in terms
1194
01:20:26,222 --> 01:20:28,000
of thinking you could
take a dam out.
1195
01:20:28,024 --> 01:20:29,468
It was unthinkable.
1196
01:20:29,492 --> 01:20:32,996
Go back 50 years
it was legitimately crazy talk.
1197
01:20:37,400 --> 01:20:39,502
You know,
the conversation has changed.
1198
01:20:43,206 --> 01:20:47,552
For the most part the era of dam
building is a closed chapter in US history.
1199
01:20:47,576 --> 01:20:52,591
But as of 2014, the state of Alaska was
rushing through the permitting process
1200
01:20:52,615 --> 01:20:56,095
to build a $5 billion dam
on the Susitna River.
1201
01:20:56,119 --> 01:21:00,165
This pristine watershed
drains a remote region south
1202
01:21:00,189 --> 01:21:02,534
of the Alaska range,
near Denali National Park
1203
01:21:02,558 --> 01:21:06,538
and is home to one of the most productive
king salmon runs in the state.
1204
01:21:06,562 --> 01:21:11,410
Many assumed Alaska was bluffing after
abandoning the idea twice before,
1205
01:21:11,434 --> 01:21:17,082
but now they've sunk 165 million
into the planning alone.
1206
01:21:17,106 --> 01:21:22,287
If the state succeeds, the 735-foot-high
dam will be the second tallest
1207
01:21:22,311 --> 01:21:26,649
in the United States and flood a
42-mile wide wilderness corridor.
1208
01:21:29,485 --> 01:21:33,565
After Glen Canyon was flooded, David
Brower of the Sierra Club wrote,
1209
01:21:33,589 --> 01:21:36,936
"Neither you nor I nor
anyone else knew it well enough
1210
01:21:36,960 --> 01:21:40,039
to insist that at
all causes should endure.
1211
01:21:40,063 --> 01:21:43,232
When we began to find out,
it was too late."
1212
01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:46,545
In the words of Edward Abbey,
1213
01:21:46,569 --> 01:21:50,373
"Sentiment without action
is the ruin of the soul."
1214
01:21:53,076 --> 01:21:59,048
♪ Shapes do melt
until they're small ♪
1215
01:22:04,087 --> 01:22:09,925
♪ Looking down
at scattered bones ♪
1216
01:22:14,230 --> 01:22:16,241
♪ I used to keep
1217
01:22:16,265 --> 01:22:21,204
♪ A slender harp
1218
01:22:25,241 --> 01:22:30,413
♪ Till they spread
her ghost on ♪
1219
01:22:48,631 --> 01:22:51,510
♪ I pulled a trigger
1220
01:22:51,534 --> 01:22:55,671
♪ By mistake
1221
01:22:59,608 --> 01:23:05,348
♪ Flowered at the aftermath
1222
01:23:10,486 --> 01:23:16,659
♪ Slowly recognize the scale
1223
01:23:20,663 --> 01:23:26,702
♪ We will be ephemeral
1224
01:23:32,108 --> 01:23:37,080
♪ We will be ephemeral
1225
01:23:41,150 --> 01:23:45,330
♪ Fact isn't what you see
1226
01:23:45,354 --> 01:23:51,436
♪ Not anymore
what it used to be ♪
1227
01:23:51,460 --> 01:23:56,208
♪ Fact isn't what you see
1228
01:23:56,232 --> 01:24:01,237
♪ Not anymore
what it used to be ♪
1229
01:24:19,855 --> 01:24:23,302
It was no small feat,
someone or perhaps several people,
1230
01:24:23,326 --> 01:24:25,637
painted a giant pair
of scissors on the face
1231
01:24:25,661 --> 01:24:28,740
of the 200-foot abandoned
Matilija Dam near Ojai.
1232
01:24:28,764 --> 01:24:32,344
Ventura county owns the dam. They
believe it was done last week.
1233
01:24:32,368 --> 01:24:34,313
Destroying the dam has
been debated for years.
1234
01:24:34,337 --> 01:24:38,350
Officials say the graffiti sends a clear
message some people really want it gone.
1235
01:24:38,374 --> 01:24:39,784
Yeah, it's probably time
for this thing to come down.
1236
01:24:39,808 --> 01:24:41,620
It is time for
this thing to come down,
1237
01:24:41,644 --> 01:24:43,288
we're just trying to figure out
the best way to do it.
1238
01:24:43,312 --> 01:24:45,090
And heck,
I'm sorry they ran out of time,
1239
01:24:45,114 --> 01:24:48,193
because we don't know where this
stitch mark belongs on the other side.
1240
01:24:48,217 --> 01:24:50,795
It's such a
peaceful demonstration.
1241
01:24:50,819 --> 01:24:53,389
I don't see any harm
in the scissors.
1242
01:24:55,224 --> 01:24:58,137
My hat is off
to the people that did it.
1243
01:24:58,161 --> 01:24:59,804
Officially, there
was a crime committed
1244
01:24:59,828 --> 01:25:02,407
but does it rise to the level
of sending people out?
1245
01:25:02,431 --> 01:25:05,810
No. There's better things
to spend that kind of money on.
1246
01:25:05,834 --> 01:25:10,406
Near Ojai, Leo Stallworth,
ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
1247
01:25:24,287 --> 01:25:29,568
♪ You make my heart spin
sorrow into silk ♪
1248
01:25:29,592 --> 01:25:31,670
♪ You make me sleep
1249
01:25:31,694 --> 01:25:35,807
♪ Like a young child
with warm milk ♪
1250
01:25:35,831 --> 01:25:38,543
♪ You held me tighter
1251
01:25:38,567 --> 01:25:41,413
♪ When I pushed you away
1252
01:25:41,437 --> 01:25:43,848
♪ You turn my sorrow into silk ♪
1253
01:25:43,872 --> 01:25:47,410
♪ You turn my sorrow
1254
01:25:58,754 --> 01:26:02,434
♪ You make my heart spin
1255
01:26:02,458 --> 01:26:05,237
♪ Sorrow into silk
1256
01:26:05,261 --> 01:26:10,409
♪ You make me sleep like
a young child with warm milk ♪
1257
01:26:10,433 --> 01:26:13,745
♪ You held me tighter
1258
01:26:13,769 --> 01:26:16,548
♪ When I pushed you away
1259
01:26:16,572 --> 01:26:22,221
♪ You turned the sorrow
into silk, you turn my sorrow ♪
1260
01:26:22,245 --> 01:26:25,490
♪ Sorrow
1261
01:26:25,514 --> 01:26:27,992
♪ Superb, superb
1262
01:26:28,016 --> 01:26:30,018
♪ Sorrow
1263
01:26:33,889 --> 01:26:37,236
♪ Sorrow
1264
01:26:37,260 --> 01:26:39,938
♪ Superb, superb
1265
01:26:39,962 --> 01:26:43,842
♪ Sorrow
1266
01:26:43,866 --> 01:26:46,878
Every canyon at each turn...
1267
01:26:46,902 --> 01:26:51,683
Oh, come... Oh, hi, I'm in the
middle of an interview, dearie.
1268
01:26:51,707 --> 01:26:55,387
The town picnic?
I don't fucking know, honey.
1269
01:26:55,411 --> 01:27:00,492
♪ I'll make my heart spin
sorrow into silk ♪
1270
01:27:00,516 --> 01:27:05,930
♪ I'll stay awake
when you can't get to sleep ♪
1271
01:27:05,954 --> 01:27:09,768
♪ I promised myself
1272
01:27:09,792 --> 01:27:12,571
♪ If I pushed you away...
1273
01:27:12,595 --> 01:27:15,574
One of your attorneys... Elmer.
1274
01:27:15,598 --> 01:27:18,877
He said, "With all this
restoration you guys got going,
1275
01:27:18,901 --> 01:27:21,946
in the watershed and everything,
you have invasive species up here?
1276
01:27:21,970 --> 01:27:23,472
I says, "Yeah."
1277
01:27:24,573 --> 01:27:26,285
"Well, what are they?"
1278
01:27:26,309 --> 01:27:28,744
"Well, we call 'em 'mite lice.'"
1279
01:27:29,978 --> 01:27:32,524
♪ Sorrow
1280
01:27:32,548 --> 01:27:35,694
♪ Superb, superb
1281
01:27:35,718 --> 01:27:38,363
♪ Sorrow
1282
01:27:38,387 --> 01:27:41,400
♪ Superb, superb
1283
01:27:41,424 --> 01:27:43,868
♪ Sorrow
1284
01:27:43,892 --> 01:27:47,005
♪ Superb, superb
1285
01:27:47,029 --> 01:27:50,533
♪ Sorrow
114622
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