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About River Network
Who We Are
River Network is a national nonprofit organization working for clean and healthy waters. While rivers are our focal point, we are interested in the quality of all fresh waters and the health of all people and ecosystems dependent upon them. We are unique among national organizations, because our very reason for being is to support grassroots groups working for watershed protection.
Our headquarters are in Portland, Oregon, where River Network was founded in 1988. Our staff members are based in Oregon, Idaho, Vermont, North Carolina and Washington, DC. We work from coast to coast.
Our Mission
River Network's mission is to help people understand, protect and restore rivers and their watersheds.
Our business is connecting people and saving rivers.
River Network fills an essential niche in the conservation community. By providing information, training, consultation and connections, we enhance the individual and collective efforts of hundreds of other organizations.
Our Vision
We envision a day when all fresh waters are safe for drinking and swimming, and when fish are naturally abundant and safe to eat.
We envision a day when healthy aquatic ecosystems support balanced, self-sustaining populations of native plants and animals, both in the water and on the land.
We envision a sustained effort over generations of a national movement for watershed protection.
Who We Serve
Our network now consists of thousands of organizations. They include grassroots watershed associations, statewide conservation groups, large river basin groups, Native American tribes, fishing and boating associations, businesses, state and federal governmental agencies and other national environmental organizations. These groups are the direct beneficiaries of our services. Their work benefits hundreds of millions of people from coast to coast.
We work most closely with River Network Partners--dues-paying groups that receive our regular publications and basic services. Our consistent support has helped hundreds of these groups form and grow steadily stronger over the past decade. Many now have professional staff and hundreds or thousands of active members of their own. Today, there are over 700 River Network Partner groups active across North America.
Our broad, diverse network includes groups with widely varying methods and perspectives toward restoring and protecting rivers, lakes and streams. We value and respect their independence. Consequently, we work to serve them, not direct them.
We do not take positions on national or state legislative or regulatory issues, become directly involved in local or state affairs, endorse political candidates at any level, or litigate. These are roles better filled by others--including the local, state and regional groups we serve, other national organizations, and coalitions that form within our network to address specific issues. We do teach groups how to organize for legislative and political progress at the state and local levels.
Our nature makes it possible for us to work in ways that many others cannot. For example, we work with governmental agencies to develop funding and programs that create support for watershed groups and a more positive climate for watershed protection. We also help state and federal agencies understand the needs and perspectives of the groups in our network.
