At the lower Elwha Dam, backhoes move massive mounds of dirt from one side of the riverbed to the other. They’re diverting the river temporarily, so the dam can be taken apart, layer by layer. An immense amount of sediment has built up above the dams –- enough sand and dirt to fill 23 Empire State Buildings. The Elwha foams and churns – like angry chocolate milk - thick and brown with sediment. As more sediment is released, scientists want to understand how it will change the river and the creatures that live here.

Standing upper deck of a six-story massive cargo ship, Rand Lymangrover looked out over chronically polluted Commencement Bay and the surrounding acres of asphalt that make up the Port of Tacoma terminals. His company, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, or TOTE, has something that none of his neighboring cargo shipping companies have – rain gardens.

Woodsmoke is the prime culprit driving spikes in sooty, toxic air in parts of the Northwest. Health costs associated with burning wood may make you think twice about how you heat your home. (A special report through a collaboration of InvestigateWest, The Northwest News Network, KCTS9 and EarthFix.)

Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker are two entomologists on a mission. They want people to think differently about bugs. Give them 15 minutes and they can change squeals of disgust into “oohs” and “ahhs” of wonder.

Standing on the banks of the Elwha River on a crisp November afternoon last week, Mel Elofson eased a slippery pink coho salmon into the cold, green water and watched it swim away. “It’s a historic day,” he said. “We haven’t had salmon in these reaches for almost 100 years.”

Grassroots campaigns have been cropping up throughout the state, encouraging neighbors and communities to embrace green stormwater methods to prevent pollution from runoff. But rain gardens, roof gardens and bioswales may soon be the law of the land for Washington cities and counties.

The largest dam deconstruction effort attempted in North America is on pause for the next few months. That’s because the first scheduled “fish window” just opened on the Elwha River dam removal project in Olympic National Park.

The head of an association for people who trade in wooden barrels, concrete cisterns, and flexible pipes kicked off a national conference here Wednesday by making a confession. “My name is John Hammerstrom and I drink my rainwater,” said the president of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association as he introduced himself at the organization’s national conference.

The largest dam removal project and second largest environmental restoration effort in U.S. history officially begins.

Neighbors in West Seattle build a cluster of rain gardens to curb pollution from stormwater runoff as part of a campaign to construct 12,000 rain gardens around Puget Sound.

At the new Washington Stormwater Center, researchers are putting sustainable methods like rain gardens and permeable pavement to the test. Their research is coming just as new stormwater management regulations are on the horizon.

The low number of sockeye returning to Lake Washington has been an unsolved mystery for years.

U.S. Geological Survey researchers team up with Northwest tribe to study Puget Sound.

The 114-acre site of the Brightwater treatment plant is just north of Woodinville. It will treat an average of 36 million gallons of wastewater per day.