One of the first membership maps, from our 1993 Annual Report.

The first iteration of River Network membership launched in 1993, formally connecting grassroots, state, regional, and national watershed conservation organizations for the first time. To gauge how to best serve these groups and learn their needs and priorities, River Network conducted its second network-wide survey. Notably, neither this nor a previous 1990 survey included questions on diversity. The network as a whole was still, as Wallin puts it, “overcoming that heritage,” of the white, male-dominated conservation space in the United States and insular network of river insiders.

“[Early on,] we didn’t do a great job [on inclusion], but it’s a story of progress.”

–Phil Wallin