So there have been some excellent discussions on the threads above and while actively participating in those discussions I kept asking myself the same recurring question:

Isn't what has happened to the upper Elwha exactly like the Doomsday scenario?? Even though I spoke out against cloning doesn't this seem like an intriguing solution to restoring the Native runs in this the former granddaddy of all NW salmon and steelhead rivers(arguable I know)?? Are the native runs realistically restorable with pure Elwha genetics?? Is native broodstock the answer, are there even enough returning natives in that system to begin a broodstocking program??

Anyone who has had the privilege of hiking the Elwha river valley knows the potential of that watershed to produce large numbers of fish. Is this rivers genetic identity lost forever?? As a child I remember my great grandfather fighting a 75lb chinook for several hours on the Elwha, would it be ethical to transplant the Kenai genes to the Elwha?

Is anyone familiar with the states plan for the Elwha after the dams come down??