A team of Seattle Times journalists began work on this special report more than a year ago, building a multimedia presentation involving people throughout the newsroom.

Lynda V. Mapes and Steve Ringman have covered stories on the Olympic Peninsula together for years. This project also was reported together, with Ringman shooting video and photographs and Mapes doing the research, interviews and writing. Together, they logged hundreds of hours exploring the Elwha River in rafts, on foot, by plane and in the water, from its wilderness reaches far above Glines Canyon Dam all the way to saltwater.

Online producers, editors, designers, graphic artists and copy editors also worked on the report.

From careful photo color correction to bring out subtleties that everyday print processing would miss to production of interactive graphics and videos for the online report, the package is a work of many hands.

We would like to thank the many scientists from state and federal agencies, as well as Port Angeles business and community members, Lower Elwha Klallam staff and tribal members, dam operators, and families of the original builders of the dams for their time, stories and photos, which contributed to the breadth and depth of the report.

The newspaper's commitment to this story runs deep. The Seattle Times Co. has been covering the Elwha dams since construction started on the first dam more than a century ago, and publishing stories about the Elwha Valley since the 1889-90 Press Expedition.

As the dams come down over the next three years and the ecosystem responds, we'll continue our coverage.