Where We Work

Healthy rivers do tremendous work for the American public, free of charge. They provide us with clean drinking water. They absorb floods within spacious floodplains. They produce great runs of salmon for commercial fisheries, trout and bass for sport anglers. They teem with waterfowl and wildlife. Americans rely on rivers for recreation and open space.

Western Rivers Conservancy works to protect the integrity of America's rivers so they can perform their vital functions. Some of the elements of river systems that we focus on:

Headwaters. We conserve the forested headwater lands that produce abundant supplies of clean water.
Floodplains. We acquire frequently flooded lands that should be restored to natural floodplain vegetation, to act as a "sponge" for floodwaters.
Riparian woodlands and wetlands. The riparian fringe is the critical filter to keep pollutants and soil from entering the river and provides fish and wildlife habitat.
River greenways. Ninety percent of our cities are located on rivers, and river greenways are often the best hope for urban open space.
Estuaries. Where the river meets the ocean is the place of greatest biological productivity.