In July, an eight-pound steelhead swimming up the Elwha River generated more excitement than 15,000 yards of concrete ripped out of a dam that had impounded the watercourse within Washington state's Olympic National Park since its construction 99 years ago. The largest-ever dam removal and river restoration program in U.S. history is under close scrutiny by a wide range of interest groups. The steelhead, the first of a smattering of fish to venture that far upstream, past the 108-ft-tall Elwha Dam site, signified the first meaningful step in the restoration of fish and wildlife to the 45-mile Elwha River, which has been choked by two monolithic dams for as long as anyone can remember.