Announcing This Year’s Wild & Scenic Stewardship Partners!
Through these initiatives and funding, Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards seeks to ensure the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River remains a pristine natural area, offering remarkable and valuable recreational opportunities while mitigating environmental impacts from heavy visitation.”
– Kaitlin de Varona, Executive Director of Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards
For the sixth year, River Network is partnering with the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) to provide nonprofits and tribes with funding to help steward the thousands of miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers across the country that flow through national forests. These designated segments of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System are protected, free-flowing rivers that provide opportunities and access for recreation, clean drinking water, and help fuel local economies.
Last year we announced a new funding type, Relationship Building Awards, to foster a shared stewardship approach between local Forest Service offices and nonprofits and Tribes. In its first year, we successfully funded four groups, and are excited to fund new groups this year as they build relationships and develop projects in partnership with national forests throughout the United States.
Relationship Building Awards
One of the main goals of the joint Forest Service and River Network Wild and Scenic Stewardship Partners program is to foster collaboration between the groups stewarding these rivers and the Forest Service. However, we recognize there are groups interested in partnering with the Forest Service who don’t have adequate time or capacity to do so. The Relationship Building Awards cover salaries and/or travel costs for organizations to build these relationships, and they help build the foundation needed to apply for our Stewardship Impact Grant.
We started the process of building a relationship with our local [Forest Service] district due to this grant. We originally spoke about educational signage about habitat protection but that snowballed into engaging stakeholders on a corridor study for improvements on the Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic Rivers which is fantastic and something we are excited about. We would not have this connection if not for this grant, so we are extremely appreciative of the funding and the opportunity.”
– 2023 Grant Recipient, Catawba Riverkeeper
We’re hoping to make federal agency funding more available to groups of all sizes and with varying capacities, not just those with historic relationships already in place. By increasing the capacity of organizations to build the foundation of these critical agency relationships, we hope to see more groups apply for and receive federal dollars to support the stewardship of our cherished Wild and Scenic Rivers.
To qualify for a Relationship Building Award, projects had to take a shared stewardship approach on rivers administered by the Forest Service, be aligned with the Administration’s Justice40 goals, and meet other criteria. We received many strong applications, reflecting the amazing work of water, justice, and river advocates across the country.
We’re excited to announce the following 2024 Relationship Building Award recipient and a snapshot of their project:
- Sault Saint Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians – in Michigan, will build a relationship with Hiawatha National Forest staff to work toward stronger collaborative fisheries management. Specifically, they are interested in rehabilitating riverine whitefish runs on the Wild and Scenic Carp River, along with exploring other shared stewardship opportunities on the East Branch, Tahquamenon, Indian, Sturgeon, and Whitefish Wild and Scenic Rivers.
Stewardship Impact Awards
Since the start of this funding opportunity, we have supported over 20 groups steward their local Wild and Scenic River ranging from river clean-ups to invasive species management to improving river access. To qualify for a Stewardship Impact Award, projects must take a shared stewardship approach on rivers administered by the Forest Service and meet additional criteria. As with years past, we received many more strong applications than we were able to award – there is so much impactful work being done around the country!
The 2024 Stewardship Impact Award recipients work from east to west on a variety of projects:
- Amigos Bravos – in New Mexico, will provide hundreds of valuable water quality datapoints on the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River designation (which includes the Red River), filling in critical gaps in data.
- Children’s Forest of Central Oregon – in Oregon, will connect approximately 225 Latine youth and family members to the Deschutes Wild and Scenic River through recreational and educational outings.
- Conservation Northwest – in Washington, will provide environmental education and outreach about how to recreate with respect to wildlife and habitat and aims to reduce human-caused impacts to flora and fauna while also preventing negative wildlife-human encounters in popular areas along the Middle Fork Wild and Scenic Snoqualmie River.
- Friends of the Metolius – in Oregon, will add new water quality testing locations, including tributaries, add testing of additional analytes, and increase the number of months that they test water along the Metolius Wild and Scenic River.
- Kentucky Waterways Alliance – in Kentucky, will work to improve water quality in the Red Wild and Scenic River through septic assistance for low-income families, cleanups, and environmental education and outreach.
- Kern River Conservancy – in California, will address impacts from high use including erosion from foot traffic, littering, and habitat degradation along the Kern Wild and Scenic River by implementing various volunteer stewardship activities.
- National Forest Foundation – in Montana, will support stewardship of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River by the 2025 Mission Mountains Youth Crew (MMYC). MMYC goes beyond a summer job by providing Indigenous youth with life skills, hands-on experiences in outdoor careers, and cultural connections.
- Native Expeditions – in Arkansas, will launch a broad stakeholder collaboration in education, leadership, and stewardship to train and improve regional schools, landowners, and river enthusiasts on the Mulberry Wild and Scenic River.
- Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation – in Montana, will conduct two 8-day expeditions with local youth (ages 15-18) on the Middle Fork Clearwater Wild and Scenic River: one on the Bitterroot National Forest and one on the Nez Perce-Perce Clearwater National Forest. Youth participants will perform trash removal, campsite inventorying, wilderness character monitoring, and trail work.
- Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards – in North Carolina, implement 14 designated campsites along the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River, as well as clear and maintain a remote section of the Fork Mountain Trail (6.4 miles) that leads to all of these designated, popular sites.
- Tuolumne River Preservation Trust – in California, will organize and conduct over 12 volunteer restoration stewardship events that will directly benefit the Tuolumne River and the surrounding area that is still recovering from 2013 Rim Fire that burned over a quarter million acres.
- Wild Alabama – in Alabama, will continue their legacy of stewardship and conservation education along the Sipsey Fork Wild and Scenic River through stream side clean-ups, eradication of non-native invasive plants along the riparian area, conduct monthly water monitoring in Alabama’s only Wild & Scenic River.
In 2024, River Network and the Forest Service are funding 13 different organizations and tribes scattered across the country. We want to extend our gratitude to all who took the time to apply for this funding and congratulations to the recipients – we can’t wait to see the impact we’ll have together!
