Blog

Stream Management Planning & Rancher Stewardship in Colorado

by Mikhaela Mullins
Since 2017, River Network has worked to increase the number and quality of Stream Management Plans in Colorado. Stream Management Plans, or SMPs, were developed as a result of 2015’s Colorado’s Water Plan, which set goals and measurable objectives to map out the future of water management in the state. One of these objectives is that 80% of locally prioritized streams have an SMP... Read More ›

Action Day for Clean Water and Rivers – Join Us!

by Carly Schmidt

Have you started texting and tweeting your members of Congress, and are missing the chance to actually talk to someone? Are you new to advocacy and want some support to make an effective ask to get Congress to invest in clean and safe water? Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, it’s an… Read More ›

River Network Statement on Recent Hate Crimes Targeting Asian-Americans

by River Network

Friday, March 19, 2021 – We condemn hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans, including the recent attack in Atlanta killing 8 people. Hate and racism have no place in river conservation or water advocacy. They prevent our forward progress toward a future where everyone has access to healthy rivers and clean water and diminish the effectiveness of our democracy.  Our work and our society are stronger when we intentionally and thoughtfully… Read More ›

Fostering Community Leadership: Putting the Research to Work with Three Network Members

by Hannah Mico
People with hands up in air

In November 2020, River Network published a new network resource: Tools for Equitable Climate Resilience: Fostering Community Leadership. The toolkit outlines equitable and intentional ways to cultivate emerging leaders, including a step-by-step guide for building community-focused leadership development programs. Since introducing the toolkit at the end of 2020, we’ve moved forward in applying the research with… Read More ›

Standing Stronger Together – NGOs, Tribes, and Water

by Nicole Silk
by Nicole Silk, River Network and Emma Robbins, Dig Deep Context: Equitable Solutions Require Diverse Perspectives We believe that everyone should have access to clean, safe, affordable drinking water and healthy rivers. Sadly, this access is not equal across our nation, with low-income and predominantly non-white communities and neighborhoods experiencing stark disparities. Perhaps the most... Read More ›

Partnership-Building Technical Assistance Grants: Announcing Selected Communities and Water Systems

by Katherine Baer
By our partners at the WaterNow Alliance. We are excited to announce that three community groups and water systems have been selected to receive Partnership-Building Technical Assistance Grants. These groups represent a diverse range of communities and challenges, and will receive technical support to grow their partnerships and pilot trust-building best practices. It is River... Read More ›

Building Strong Champions with Organizational Sustainability

by Brenna Goggin

To address today’s water crisis, the national network of water protectors needs strong leaders. That’s why Building Strong Champions is the essence of River Network’s mission. At its core, Building Strong Champions is building the capacity of individuals and organizations. This blog post is the second in our series highlighting this work: organizational sustainability, a must… Read More ›

Protecting Drinking Water in the Great Lakes

by Hannah Mico
The Great Lakes make up 90% of North America’s fresh surface water and, in the US, 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes as their drinking water source. However, many in the Great Lakes region face threats to their drinking water — from contamination concerns related to lead pipes, harmful algal blooms or PFAS;... Read More ›

5 Takeaways From the 2020 Emerging Leader

by Megan Nguyen
When I was first selected as River Network’s 2020 Emerging Leader in March of 2020, I asked, “What version of my story do you want to hear: the activist version or the conservationist version?” The team at River Network resolutely replied, “both!” This last year really fused these two identities—my communications associate role at California... Read More ›

Eight Network Members Awarded Technical Assistance Grants to Support Community-Led Research

by April Ingle
With funding and support from the Kresge Foundation, River Network is excited to announce it has awarded Technical Assistance Grants to eight organizations around the country to support the design and implementation of grassroots, ground-up, community-led processes to better understand climate- and water-related issues, impacts and threats in their community, and support advocacy efforts to address them.    Each of the selected organizations have experience working on various aspects of climate resilience,... Read More ›

A Historic Year: What it Means for Our Future Work with Water

by Sheyda Esnaashari

On November 7, 2020, the US presidential election was called for former Vice President Joe Biden. This election was historic for many reasons — occurring during an ongoing global pandemic, a country reckoning with continued racial injustice, and the increasing impacts of climate change, to name just a few. In the weeks since his election,… Read More ›

River Network Statement on Recent Attacks on Democracy

by River Network

Monday, January 11, 2021 — Democracy is fundamental to our efforts to deliver safe, clean, affordable water and healthy rivers to people and nature. We rely on our elected officials to represent the will of the people, to make decisions with the health and welfare of the public in mind, and ground their actions in what… Read More ›

Water Policy Wrap 2020 – Heartbreak and Hope

by Katherine Baer
My father didn’t grow up as an outdoors person, but he started hiking and canoeing when my sister and I were young. I can remember cold backpacking trips without quite the right gear to stay warm. But, he kept us at it, and one of our favorite places to visit was the Okefenokee Swamp in... Read More ›

2020 Trends Report on State of Water Protection Shows Hope, But More Progress Needed for Sector Diversity

by River Network

BOULDER, COLORADO – December, 2020 – National organization River Network released a 2020 trends report called Our Water, Our Future: State of River and Watershed Protection this week. The report outlines current conditions of waterways in the U.S. including opportunities and threats to water quality and quantity, and provides an analysis of the diversity of… Read More ›