"Inspired by long walks and extended backcountry trips on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Mary Peck's photographs evoke the stillness and balance one can find by slowing down and simply paying attention. Neither idealized nor nostalgic, Peck's photographs point toward beauty and hope in a landscape that has suffered its share of environmental indignities, yet still carries the powerful mystery of wildness into an uncertain future." "Charles Wilkinson's essay traces historical attitudes toward land and water in the American West, and reflects on the now-outmoded laws that have governed development for nearly two centuries. With the impending removal of two dams, erected on the Elwha River almost one hundred years ago, wild salmon, long prevented from reaching upstream spawning areas, are about to return and restore their ancient runs on one of the most diverse and productive streams in the country."--BOOK JACKET.