A wild river (United States, Australia, & New Zealand) or heritage river (Canada) is a :river or a

river system In geomorphology, drainage systems, also known as river systems, are the patterns formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular drainage basin. They are governed by the topography of land, whether a particular region is dominated by h ...

designated by a government to be protected and kept "relatively untouched by development and are therefore in near natural condition, with all, or almost all, of their natural values intact."Australian Heritage Commission (1998) "Conservation Guidelines for the Management of Wild River Values"
Accessed 28 October 2009 Within some nation states including in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, governments have opted to focus on rivers and river systems as a kind of "unmodified or slightly modified" landscape feature to protect, manage and preserve in near 'natural' condition – variously labeling or formally declaring such areas to be "wild rivers" (or "heritage rivers"). The term "wild river" may also more generically describe or identify s without dams.

Concerns about the term

Where rivers or river systems may be labeled 'wild rivers' with the intention of protecting them to a Wilderness (IUCN Category 1b) standard, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns:IUCN's "Indigenous and Traditional Peoples" web page
Accessed 8 November 2009 Most recently, in Australia, following some declarations, and in the lead up to a number of other 'wild river declarations using

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

's wild rivers legislation, Australia's

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

observed:Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission "Proposed Wild Rivers Declarations" Submission webpage
Accessed 8 November 2009

Wild rivers by country

Australia

In 1979,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

's Hydro-Electricity Commission released a proposal to dam and inundate the

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

() and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

() Rivers, leading the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and other conservation groups to mobilize one of Australia's largest conservation battles and acts of civil disobedience, focused heavily on "...the protection of the

Franklin River The Franklin River is a major perennial river located in the Central Highlands and western regions of Tasmania, Australia. The river is located in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at the mid northern area of the Tasmanian Wilderne ...

, one of Australia’s last truly wild rivers..." resulting in the river being World Heritage listed (as part of the

Tasmanian Wilderness The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, abbreviated to TWWHA, is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering , or almost 25% of Tasmania. It is also one of the last ex ...

world heritage area A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

) and a subsequent

Australian High Court The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the ''Judiciary Act 1903''. It ...

decision preventing the damming of this wild river.Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service "Wild Rivers National Park" webpage
Accessed 7 November 2009 The then

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

, in December 1992, gave a 'Statement on the Environment' speech committing the

to identifying all of Australia's near-pristine rivers and to encouraging government agencies plus Australian peoples generally to more effectively protect and manage those rivers as total catchments. This commitment translated into the establishment of an

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

Wild Rivers Project:Stein, J. L.; Stein, J. A and Nix, H. A. (1999) ''The Identification of Wild Rivers: Methodology and database development.'' Report for the Australian Heritage Commission.
Accessed 2 November 2009 By 1998 the Australian Heritage Commission's Wild Rivers Project, working in cooperation with all states, had produced maps identifying Australia's wild rivers across all of the Commonwealth's States,
Accessed 8 November 2009 plus "Conservation Guidelines for the Management of Wild River Values".
Accessed 8 November 2009 New South Wales opted to adapt, protect and declare wild rivers, including over of waterways and tributaries of the

Grose The Grose was an English automobile built between 1898 and 1901, Grose also built bodies for cars, buses, ambulances and commercial vehicles until the late 1950s. Company History Mr. Joseph G. Grose began work as a leather currier in Ambush St ...

and Colo rivers, under its existing ''National Parks and Wildlife Act'' 1974. Queensland identified an initial 19 rivers to be protected as wild rivers and, in September 2005, opted to enact "Australia’s first comprehensive and stand alone legislation to identify, protect and preserve that State’s remaining wild rivers".World Wilderness Congress Resolution 21 web page
Accessed 8 November 2009 In 2007, Queensland declared its first wild rivers within the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

, as well as at

Fraser Island Fraser Island (Butchulla: ) is a World Heritage-listed island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fraser ...

, and

Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island (or Pouandai to the Biyaygiri people) is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow Hi ...

and in April 2009 a further three wild river areas have been declared in

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

.Queensland Premier Bligh "New Wild Rivers" media release
Accessed 8 November 2009 Australia's Wilderness Society (who find their early origins in the original Tasmanian Franklin Wild River campaign), also chose to renew and re-initiate its wild river campaigning "...to seek government action around a Wild Rivers framework building on the Australian Heritage Commission’s earlier work...",Wilderness Society's Wild Rivers Campaign web page
Accessed 8 November 2009 being an ongoing campaign as follows:Wilderness Society 'Wild Rivers' web page
Accessed 8 November 2009 In January 2010, the Queensland ''Wild Rivers Act 2005'' became the subject of national interest when federal Opposition leader

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

announced a plan to 'overturn' the Act through a propose
''Wild Rivers Environmental Management Bill''
This legislation intended to insert a provision in the Queensland Act, granting Indigenous titleholders a right to consent to this one regulation. The introduction of the ''Wild Rivers (Environmental Management) Bill'' to both houses of federal parliament in 2010 and 2011 led to a series of parliamentary inquiries, though in October 2011, Queensland Liberal National Party candidate

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

indicated he planned to 'axe' the legislation if elected. Elected in March 2012, Newman subsequently announced he would eventually replace the ''Wild Rivers Act'' solely in

under
Bio-Regional Management Plan
anticipated in October 2013.

Canada

Canada has been described as follows:
Accessed 8 November 2009 In 1984 Canada's federal, provincial and territorial governments established a

Canadian Heritage Rivers System The Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS; french: Le réseau de rivières du patrimoine canadien) is a joint program administered by the federal, provincial and territorial governments to conserve and protect the best examples of Canada's river her ...

as Canada's national river conservation program – to conserve and protect the heritage values and integrity of the best examples of Canada's large, free flowing rivers and river systems. Canada's river conservation program was not established by

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

, but is instead a cooperative arrangement between Canada's ten provinces and three

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

establishing a fifteen-member (appointed) Canadian Heritage Rivers board, to which participating members nominate rivers to be designated as heritage rivers, for which river management plans building on existing statutory powers are prepared, agreed, and endorsed. The French River in Ontario was the first river to be designated a heritage river, in 1986, and since then 40 rivers have been designated across Canada:

New Zealand

Through to the 1970s in New Zealand a conservation movement formed around a number of largely unprecedented campaigns "...to save wild river landscapes..." including particularly campaigns to prevent damming of the

Clutha River The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the P ...

, damming of the Motu River, and raising the waters of

Lake Manapouri Lake Manapouri is located in the South Island of New Zealand. The lake is situated within the Fiordland National Park and the wider region of Te Wahipounamu South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. Māori History According to Māori people, ...

Duthie, Quentin (2009) "Rivers, Wild and Free" Federated Mountain Clubs Bulletin pp. 46–47.
accessed 4 November 2009 (with the

Save Manapouri Campaign The Save Manapouri campaign was an environmental campaign waged between 1969 and 1972 in New Zealand to prevent the raising of the levels of lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as part of the construction of the Manapouri Power Project. Origins The ...

now regarded as a key milestone in New Zealand environmental protection, and the Lake itself ultimately ending up in the

Te Wahipounamu Te Wāhipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") is a World Heritage Site in the south west corner of the South Island of New Zealand. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990 and covering , the site incorporates four national park ...

World Heritage Area A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

). These wild river campaigns led, in 1981, to the passing of a ''Wild and Scenic Rivers'' legislation and, in 1984, to the Motu River becoming New Zealand's first "Wild and Scenic River". Since then 14 other wild rivers have been protected in accordance with New Zealand's Wild Rivers legislation (with 'Water Conservation orders' being made), and in 2009 conservation groups have initiated a renewed and reinvigorated national scale "wild rivers" campaign with the following rationale:

United States

Following a Presidential Commission reviewing the outdoor recreational resources of the United States of America, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

passed the ''Wild and Scenic Rivers Act'' in October 1968, creating a

National Wild and Scenic Rivers System The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

as follows:National Wild and Scenic Rivers webpage
2 November 2009 As of 2008 (after 40 years since the United States National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was first created), more than of 166 rivers in 38 States plus the Commonwealth of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

have been protected.

References

External links

;Australia

Commonwealth Conservation Guidelines for Wild River management

Wilderness Society's Wild Rivers website

Wild Rivers Code

* [http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/economics/WildRivers/subs.htm Submissions to Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee of Economics Review of the Wild Rivers (Environmental Management) Bill 2010]
Sound Recording of Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Radio Report and Interviews on Wild Rivers (Qld)
;Canada

Map of Designated and Nominated Heritage Rivers, Canada
;New Zealand
New Zealand's Wild Rivers campaign website
;United States
US "Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 1968"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild River Protected areas Rivers