spot on there salmo, that why i usually stfu and read your post before i talk. it seems that the state/feds saw the hand writting on the wall a long time ago and did the right thing of starting the process early...even if they didnt involve the public much and used some flawed science...the public entities have only seemingly had it on their radar for the last decade or so though and have been trying to stem the tide of said ideas ever sense.

I wouldnt mind seeing a REAL naturalized broodstocking program happen there, something like the HC programs only better.
GPS track redds,
allow for eggs to harden and vacuum a certain percentage,
rear in hatchery environment for several weeks(bumping up our survivability several percentage points for this critical time),
And then sink them back into the gravel somewhere with the aid of an egg box,
sit back, pray, and start working on other problems with the system, near shore environment and other "use factors" directed at the system.
..but I doubt they will do that, its too scientifically founded/plausible.

carcassman-
"Even if we have "lost the genetics" that made the Elwha what it was, so what?"

so EVERYTHING! genetics is the frontier of fisheries management, I understand is a bit cryptic(i have problems with it too) but it is certainly something worthy of due respect and education. what you said is correct, the fish will eventually adapt, but it will take possibly several hundred years for the genes to come back to producing, on average, that historic size of fish...mother nature was designed to be veeerrry slow on this stuff and was never designed for the human influence factor. The other side is that as those genes/populations produce other factors will be hindering them..it is a horribly vicious circle..
I have read the bird study you mentioned and go back and look at its publication, while it has merit, it has received several peer-reviewed editorials punching holes in their findings. not to mention the fact that birds have a different life structure, reproduction time and other variables.
it is also hard to "select" NOT to kill those few remaining big fish destined for the elwah out in the ocean..and any one of a dozen non-selective factors can be referenced, from bycatch to out-right harvest to natural forces..the firsst one we can really dictate, the second not so much if at all(read between the lines about west coast commercial fisheries) and the third we have nothing to stand on...so...we are back to using the "best" science available to us..and i think that is genetics AND starting to talk bluntly but constructively about problems with our environment around us! (because it, the birds,fish, etc all work hand in hand to keep it running as we know it now)