History
Phil Wallin, who was working for the Trust for Public Land in New Mexico, was witnessing problems along the Rio Chama. When he looked for a local group to help find some solutions, there was none. And the few people who wanted to do something didn't know how or where to turn for help in starting up a new organization to protect the river they and their families cherished.
So Phil had an idea--create an organization to assist local citizens working to protect and restore their rivers and watersheds. In 1988, River Network was founded to be a national support center for grassroots river conservation. Phil then packed up his family, moved to Portland, Oregon and hired Lindy Walsh. The two of them worked out of Phil's basement, going without pay for months as they struggled to put a new organization together. A year later, Phil traveled to the Bay Area to seek support from Jim Compton. Jim provided the young group with some initial start-up money and became founding president of River Network's Board of Directors.
The original concept of River Network was to provide support to people who wanted to start local river protection groups and offer more advanced services to the hundreds of grassroots organizations (river guardians) across the country that are actively working to conserve their local rivers. Our tenet was that a corps of circuit riders could help river guardians get campaigns under way to protect and restore their local streams. The River Conservancy, our land acquisition program, was envisioned as a powerful tool for permanently protecting strategic river lands.
Early Work
We hired a circuit rider to begin assisting river guardians in the Northwest. We went into the field to work one-on-one with river guardian groups to help them hammer out action plans. We found that this approach was extremely energy-intensive. With a small staff, we could only serve a small geographical area. Furthermore, while most river guardians felt the need for help, planning was not a top priority for most of them.
In early 1991, we completed our first land transaction (Cache Creek Ranch in Hells Canyon) as a joint venture with the Trust for Public Land. The revenues from that project allowed us to hire additional staff and expand our services. By 2000, River Network's River Conservancy program had permanently protected more than 50,000 river acres in Missouri, Montana, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho and California.
Watershed 2000
In 1995, the Board of Trustees adopted a five-year strategic plan--Watershed 2000. The thrust of the plan was to establish vigilant and effective citizen organizations in each of America's 2,000 major watersheds. We built up state river groups, strengthened our River Source program and created the Partner program as ways to meet the needs of grassroots river-activist groups. The plan proved to be our guide as we moved through the vast changes an organization can go through during a five-year period. And though we deviated slightly from Watershed 2000 during those years, we held fast to its principles. The plan proved to be a major strength of River Network.
Merger with River Watch Network
In 1998, the program staff of River Network and River Watch Network met to discuss ways that we could strengthen our work through joint projects. It became clear that there was great synergy between the missions and programs of the two organizations. It also became clear that river protection could be better served if we did more than joint projects. Merger discussions began.
In September 1999, the River Network Board of Trustees voted to merge with River Watch Network. The mission, programs and culture of the two organizations matched well. River Watch provides river activists with tools to measure the health of their river, and River Network's programs help activists turn concern and information into action. River Watch Network History (link to text below)
National River Rally
River Network held its first National River Rally for river leaders in October 1999 in Monticello, MN, with 125 participants from 28 states. Since then, the River Rally has grown tremendously in many ways, and is now an established event eagerly anticipated by the river conservation community as a whole. The spirit, energy and intense dedication that characterize the Rallies are unique. Each year, participants tell us that this is one of the most useful and morale-building events they have ever attended.
2001 Asilomar Conference Center, Monterey Bay, California 303 attendees; 39 states (plus DC, Canada, Chile) 2002 SunSpree Resort, Ashville, North Carolina 391 attendees; 40 states (plus DC, Canada, Chile) 2003 Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Washington 435 attendees; 46 states (plus DC, Canada, Chile) 2004 Wintergreen Resort, Wintergreen, Virginia 489 attendees; 44 states (plus DC, Canada, Belgium, Am. Somoa) 2005 Keystone Resort, Keystone, Colorado 523 attendees; 50 states (plus DC, Canada) 2006 Mt. Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire 524 attendees; 44 states (plus DC, South Korea)Into the 21st Century
Since 2000, River Network has grown, our programs and reach have expanded and evolved, and we now directly serve more than 700 nonprofit organizations across the US, Canada and beyond. In 2002, our River Conservancy program spun off to become its own nonprofit-the Western Rivers Conservancy. (link to http://www.westernrivers.org/)
Looking Ahead
Recent studies have confirmed what we have long known: that the positive effects of local watershed protection groups increase exponentially after their first few years of existence. This is because good watershed groups invest most of their first few years in essential foundation-building work, including documenting watershed conditions and trends, deciding what problems or threats deserve most of their early attention, involving the people who are absolutely critical to their success, building public understanding and support, establishing the kind of organization necessary for the tasks at hand, defining their first few projects, and obtaining the funding they need. Only when these things are done, and done well, are groups ready to begin in earnest the business of protecting and restoring their watersheds. Doing them all well takes time - on average, studies show, about five years.
The watershed protection community has grown phenomenally in recent years. It is now at least ten times larger and stronger than it was when River Network was founded in 1988. Its growth is due to many factors. One of them is the encouragement and support that River Network has provided. Another is the simple fact that the time is right. Watershed protection groups are growing in numbers and strength because they are working at appropriate scales and meeting critical needs of society in practical, effective ways.
But the watershed protection community is still quite young. Few watershed groups are much more than ten years old. A great many are still less than five years old. As these groups mature, we can expect the next decade to be one of unprecedented accomplishment for watershed protection.
It must be, because the time for action is now. Mounting population pressures, climate change, and a host of other pressures could easily do irreparable harm to rivers and their watersheds in the next generation. By working together as never before, and with the help of everyone who cares about rivers and water quality, we have a real chance to rise to the challenges in the years ahead.
River Watch Network History
River Watch Network (RWN) was formed in 1987, based on a successful 20-year program on Vermont's Ottauquechee River. Citizens and students living in the watershed gathered and used monitoring information to galvanize community support to successfully clean up the grossly polluted river. RWN was created to establish a network of programs based on this citizen-participation model. Laurence S. Rockefeller provided start-up support. Its founders were Henry "Tom" Bourne, Jack Byrne, and E. William Stetson, III.
Jack bravely took on the job of Executive Director. He set up the offices, hired the people and extended the work from New England to the watersheds of the Hudson, the Mississippi, the Rio Grande, and even the Danube. Jack did it all on a shoestring budget, which he coaxed from some wonderful individuals and foundations who were willing to bet on RWN.
Tom Bourne served as Founding Chair until his death in January 1998 at the age of 97. A 50-year resident of Maplewood Farm in Woodstock, Vermont, Tom had the pioneering notion that local citizens around the world could, with the right tools, clean and restore their rivers. Over the years, he became much more than Chairman of the Board. He was RWN's philosopher, surrogate father, humorist, grouch, fund-raiser and resident dreamer!
Like River Network (RN), RWN's mission was to help people monitor, restore and protect their rivers and watersheds. And like RN, RWN programs were born from grassroots concerns for local rivers. RWN believed that the key to healthy rivers was to bring together diverse community interests who recognized the importance of protecting and restoring rivers. It formed partnerships with citizens, schools, businesses, service clubs, tribes, state and local government, and conservation groups, and gave them the tools needed to understand and solve river problems in their communities through workshops, technical support and consultation, publications, and other tools. RWN believed that river monitoring and assessment programs should be as varied as rivers themselves.
On the statewide level, through community organizing, RWN supported the growth of new local programs, as well as efforts to create networks of local programs that shared the goal of watershed conservation and that used river monitoring as one of the tools in achieving that goal. At the national and international level, RWN's role was to create broader recognition of the importance of community based river monitoring, protection, and stronger support for such efforts.
RWN had roots in communities from the Rio Grande in New Mexico to the Presumpscot in Maine, inspiring local people to bring their rivers back to life. At the time of the merger with River Network, RWN was supporting 67 projects on over 107 rivers. Its services had reached over 15,000 volunteers. Data gathered by these volunteers had been used by state water quality agencies, regional planning commissions, local planning commissions, departments of public works, conservation districts, the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and non-profit conservation agencies.
This work continues today through River Network's River Watch water quality monitoring programs.
