Celebrating Dam Removal Despite the Drought

Many of folks, especially us blubberball hippos, are feeling down about the drought. But here's something that's keeping our fearsome and lopsided buck-teeth up: dam removal. In 2025, communities and tribal nations across 30 states deconstructed 100 obsolete dams, reconnecting nearly 5,000 miles of rivers—the most river miles ever reconnected through dam removal in a single year in U.S. history. More than a quarter of those removals were dangerous low-head dams, improving both river health, natural resource sustainability, and public safety.

The Klamath, Parker, Kwoneesum, Kinnickinick, and Elk river to name just a few. These free-flowing rivers do something dammed ones simply cannot: they foster miles of unlocked habitat, sediment movement, cooler water, and welcome salmon back like they never got the memo that things were hard. The drought is real and it's serious, and also: we just gave some rivers their lives back. Both things are true.

Some of these stretches are floatable and fishable and accessible to fish and wildlife for the first time in decades. New water means more stretches worth scouting, and new places to test out that Hippo dragbag you've been eyeing, the Boatburger throw rope in your garage, or Bat Flip-Lines that are hanging from your bathroom ceiling but would rather be on the Salmon, or Colorado, Klamath, or Snake Rivers with you.

Here's a shout-out to river-goers like you, organizations like Western Resource Advocates and American Rivers and Rig to Flip, scientists, agriculture stakeholders, Razorback Suckers, soccer moms and baseball dads, hunters, and the like for standing up for our rivers and making this happen for our futures.

Stay hippo,
Hannah the Hippo