Oregon ? The wild and scenic Rogue River has become even wilder with the demolition of a dam that had hindered passage of salmon and steelhead to their spawning grounds for 88 years.

A flotilla of some 80 people in rafts, driftboats and kayaks celebrated the breaching of the Savage Rapids Dam on Saturday by floating through the remains of the concrete structure in southwest Oregon.

Among them was Jim Martin, rowing his own driftboat. His first job as a young fisheries biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife was monitoring how many salmon and steelhead were killed each year by the irrigation dam.

“Forty-one years ago I stood on that dam as a young biologist fresh out of school watching the fish die, and thinking how this dam had to come out for the health of this river,” said Martin, who rose to be chief of fisheries for the department and now is conservation director of Pure Fishing. “People said, ‘Jim, be realistic, it will never happen.’ And it’s happening.”