Must see documentary

If you love and respect wild rivers and all that comes with them you absolutley need to see this film "DamNation". I found it on Netflix and just watched it with my 13 year old son! I hope it moves you the way it did me!    David

Was the main feature shown at Featherfest last September.

I saw a preview on You Tube. Agreed that some smaller/older dams have passed their shelf-life compared to their original purpose/cost/benefit. The Elwha River is definitely one of them. Glad to see it gone (even though I caught my only nice-sized Dolly Varden in the lake just above it). The Chinook could definitely use another of their historic rivers to return to in force. And the Elwha is truly prime habitat for salmon spawning. That was a no-brainer for dam removal.

I totally disagree with wild-eyed zealots, however, who want to remove every dam under the sun. There is no way that is going to happen if we want to feed the world via the Central/Imperial Valleys (let alone California's 38 million people). I would want to see how the Bay Area would survive as well unless carbon credits or Apple stock options could make a nutritious meal and salt water could be drank.
 
We fish and recreate in the hundreds of waters (lakes and reservoirs) backed up by dams across California. We all use the hydro electricity. We eat the billions in food production provided by the water storage. We live in areas protected from flood waters by the dams.

Frankly, I could care less about some purists who want to whitewater raft and be one with nature etc. When I see them sell that well-lit 7 bedroom trophy home in Tiburon or sell that profitable Auburn/American Canyon whitewater rafting/shuttle bus service company then I might change my tune. In the meantime, we get to enjoy our high standard of living helped by the large dams that have paid for themselves many times over.

The dams will eventually end their economic lives on their own through siltation etc. We can wait. And by then, we can pave the desert with solar panels and wind farms.....

 

 

   
 

The anti dam folks in the video seemed like the same people as the anti hatchery people in "Hatchery vs Wild". I'm not sure, haven't bothered to go back and check, but that was certainly the feeling I got.

obsolete dams should be removed if they constitute a hazard to navigation or migration of a viable population of fish, or if failure would endanger economic interests downstream. Some dams should be built higher for more water capacity. It's pretty much a case by case basis imo.

That's not the feeling I got from the documentary. It seemed pretty one sided anti dam.

I am by no means a granola munching/ anti-dam hippy and I am sorry if some of you got that impression, not that I care about peoples opinions of me! I did enjoy the movie and the cinamatography and I got to see how my son reacted to some of the problems we face as adults. That being said, yeah it did seem left leaning propaganda filled, but so f'n what!! this is Fucking America still, isnt it??

I am by no means a granola munching/ anti-dam hippy and I am sorry if some of you got that impression, not that I care about peoples opinions of me! I did enjoy the movie and the cinamatography and I got to see how my son reacted to some of the problems we face as adults. That being said, yeah it did seem left leaning propaganda filled, but so f'n what!! this is Fucking America still, isnt it??

I watched what I could of it with a bunch of whitewater kayakers at Featherfest.  Most applauded the showing, then went off to get ready for the next day's PG&E's increased water release from, yup you guessed it, a dam.  True kayakers know kayaks were developed for hunting and FISHING.

yep, SOMA couldnt have said it better!