To Revive a River, Restore Its Hidden Gut

For generations, several nations have called themselves the "Salmon People" due to the fact that they are so elemental to Indigenous peoples who live along North America's northwestern coast. The vegetation on the streamside was cut down by the new inhabitants. They tried to speed floodwater off the land and armored the sides to prevent erosion, but the faster flow hurt the riverbed. Urban planners funneled streams into buried pipes so they could build more city on top. The cumulative impact of these injuries resulted in flash floods, unstable banks, heavy pollution and waning life. The salmon was all but gone.

Cities across North America and the world have destroyed their waterways. Seattle was guilty until 1999 when the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the salmon as threatened. The city was obligated to help the salmon when it undertook a new capital project. Engineers trying to improve Seattle's ailing streams began to introduce curves and boulders to create more natural habitat, but salmon did not return. Flooding remained a problem because rain rushed off the hardened cityscape into the inflexible channels which overflowed.