DamNation

The Official Poster

A barge-mounted excavator hammers away at Glines Canyon Dam, the largest dam removal in U.S. history. Elwha River, Olympic National Park, Washington in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

Ben Knight films the former Elwha Dam before its removal. Elwha River, Washington in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

Skateboarding a dam pipe outlet somewhere in the USA in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

A pod of wild pink salmon swim up the pristine and free flowing Susitna River just below the site of a proposed mega dam being pushed by the State of Alaska in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

Ben Knight films an undammed river in Washington’s Olympic National Park in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

Ben Knight takes a welcome break from filming concrete all day in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Damnation Collection

In order to reach their spawning grounds in Olympic National Park, salmon and steelhead on Washington’s undammed Sol Duc River must launch past a waterfall known as the Salmon Cascades in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

Katie Lee reflects in one of Glen Canyon's magical side canyons before they were flooded in 1963 by the completion of Glen Canyon Dam and what she calls “Res Foul” (aka Lake Powell) in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Katie Lee Collection

Extremely cold water trickles out of the Glen Canyon Dam into what's left of Glen Canyon, forming an unnatural stretch of trout water on the Arizona/Utah border in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

Fire in the hole! Eight hundred pounds of explosives blast a hole through the base of Condit Dam, the beginning of the process to free Washington's White Salmon River in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: DamNation Collection

Ben Knight films inside the nearly century old Elwha Dam powerhouse before its deconstruction in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

Author David James Duncan [The River Why, The Brothers K,] about to get in the hot seat for a DamNation interview in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

Iron Gate, the most downstream of four controversial dams strangling the Klamath River in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

Kevin Yancy of the Bureau of Reclamation gets in the DamNation hot seat among a wall of aging gauges inside the Glines Canyon Dam powerhouse in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

A painted crack and message on Glines Canyon Dam foreshadowed its removal over two decades later. Elwha River, Olympic National Park, Washington in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Mikal Jakubal

Wild summer steelhead swarm back to the undammed North Umpqua River in Oregon in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

Prevented from migrating any further upstream, a spawning pair of pink salmon flirt over a gravel bed a stone’s throw from the now removed Elwha Dam powerhouse in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

Travis Rummel stands on a beautifully preserved old growth cedar stump that was revealed after being submerged nearly a century under Washington's 'Lake' Aldwell. The Elwha River has now re-­‐carved its course through the drained reservoir in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

An excavator arm fitted with a hydraulic hammer begins chipping away at the Glines Canyon Dam in Olympic National Park as the Elwha River free falls 210 feet off the spillway [fall 2011] in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

Glines Canyon Dam, Olympic Peninsula, Washington in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

The former Elwha Dam looms overhead as DamNation producer and underwater photographer Matt Stoecker prepares to film Chinook salmon trapped below the impassable wall of concrete in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

An Elwha River Chinook comes to rest below the now removed Elwha Dam on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula [fall 2011] in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

DamNation producer and underwater photographer Matt Stoecker emerges from the icy tail waters below the former Elwha Dam in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

Trying to blend in with the tourists at a Glen Canyon overlook in Page, Arizona in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Travis Rummel

Wildly controversial, a November 2012 ballot initiative that aims to study the potential removal of the O’Shaughnessy Dam in Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley will be in the hands of San Francisco voters in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Jim Hurst

Back to the future? A century old I.W. Taber photograph shows the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley and Toulumne River before the dam and reservoir buried this national treasure in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

DamNation co-director Ben Knight avoids a surveillance helicopter while filming the demolition of Condit Dam on Washington's White Salmon River in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: DamNation Collection

Before and after: A renewed pulse of life, and recreation, flows along Washington’s White Salmon River after the removal of Condit Dam in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Ben Knight

A daunting fish’s eye view of the Matilija Dam. Ventura River watershed in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker