"FRESNO, Calif. -- When Darrell Imperatrice was a boy, California's San Joaquin River teemed with so many king salmon his father could catch 40-pound fish using only a pitchfork.

Then the salmon vanished from the icy river for nearly 60 years, after a colossal federal dam built to nurture the croplands below dried up their habitat.

Now, federal officials are trying to bring back the fish through a sweeping restoration program of the state's second-largest river -- opening the valves for the first full day on Friday."

Garance Burke report for the Associated Press October 3, 2009. [2]