I agree that dam removal shouldn't be over sold regarding the most probable results. The 400,000 salmon back to the Elwha was predominately pink salmon, and that would only happen when pink returns were at all time highs like were seen from around 2001 to 2015. I'm confident that the Elwha will soon be producing at its contemporary carrying capacity, pretty much like the rest of the Puget Sound and coastal rivers. It will be good, just not as many fish as there would have been at the time of dam construction.

I think the Snake River dam removal is also being over sold. I think it will help Chinook a lot by removing 400 miles of slack and warm water reservoirs. That's a big help, just not up to ESA recovery goals for salmon, let alone the SRKW. I think no one in "officialdom" is being honest about the SRKW. I think society unknowingly made environmental decisions as far back as the 1960s and 1970s that will continue to make SRKW recovery impossible. It ain't gonna' happen (kind of like lower Columbia River Tule Chinook and Stillaguamish River Chinook), but millions of $$, or billions will be spent on a goal that cannot be achieved.