American Heritage Rivers are designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

 to receive special attention (coordinating efforts of multiple governmental entities) to further three objectives: natural resource and environmental protection, economic revitalization, and historic and cultural preservation.

The American Heritage Rivers Protection Program

American Heritage Rivers Protection Program

The American Heritage Rivers Protection Program was authorized by Executive Order 13061 during the Clinton Administration on September 11, 1997. The initiative was to support existing community-based efforts to preserve, protect, and restore rivers and their communities...

 initially was created by an Executive Order, Number 13061, signed by President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 on September 11, 1997. Selection criteria were developed under the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality

Council on Environmental Quality

The Council on Environmental Quality is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental and energy policies and initiatives...

 (CEQ), with wide government and expert involvement, and reflected a wide variety of viewpoints, including those representing natural, cultural, and historic resources; scenic, environmental, and recreation interests; tourism, transportation, and economic development interests; and industries such as agriculture, hydropower, manufacturing, mining, and forest management. The recommended rivers were to represent a variety of stream sizes, diverse geographical locations, and a wide range of settings from urban to rural and ensure that relatively pristine, successful revitalization efforts were considered, as well as degraded rivers in need of restoration.

Criteria for designation

Rivers are selected for designation according to the following criteria:

• The characteristics of the natural, economic, agricultural, scenic, historic, cultural, or recreational resources of the river that render it distinctive or unique;
• The effectiveness with which the community has defined its plan of action and the extent to which the plan addresses, either through planned actions or past accomplishments, all three American Heritage Rivers objectives;
• The strength and diversity of community support for the nomination as evidenced by letters from elected officials; landowners; private citizens; businesses; and especially State, local, and tribal governments. Broad community support is essential to receiving the American Heritage River designation; and
• Willingness and capability of the community to forge partnerships and agreements to implement their plan to meet their goals and objectives.

Designated rivers

President Clinton designated the 14 rivers (or river systems) on July 30, 1998.

• Blackstone
  Blackstone River
  The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi...
  
   and Woonasquatucket
  Woonasquatucket River
  The Woonasquatucket River is a river in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows approximately and drains a watershed of 130 km² ....
  
   Rivers (MA, RI)
• Connecticut River
  Connecticut River
  The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
  
   (NH, VT, MA, CT)
• Cuyahoga River
  Cuyahoga River
  The Cuyahoga River is located in Northeast Ohio in the United States. Outside of Ohio, the river is most famous for being "the river that caught fire", helping to spur the environmental movement in the late 1960s...
  
   (OH)
• Detroit River
  Detroit River
  The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
  
   (MI, ON)
• Hanalei River
  Hanalei River
  The Hanalei River on the island of Kauai in Hawaii flows north from the eastern slopes Mount Waialeale for until entering the Pacific Ocean at Hanalei Bay as an estuary...
  
   (HI)
• Hudson River
  Hudson River
  The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
  
   (NY)
• Lower Mississippi River
  Mississippi River
  The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
  
   (LA, TN, AR)
  • Wolf River
    Wolf River (Tennessee)
    The Wolf River is a alluvial stream in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, whose confluence with the Mississippi River was the site of various Chickasaw, French, Spanish and American communities and forts that eventually became Memphis, Tennessee....
    
     in metropolitan Memphis
    Memphis, Tennessee
    Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
    
     is bundled with the Lower Mississippi.
• Potomac River
  Potomac River
  The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
  
   (DC, MD, VA, WV)
• New River (NC, VA, WV)
• Rio Grande
  Rio Grande
  The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
  
   (CO, NM, TX)
• St. Johns River
  St. Johns River
  The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
  
   (FL)
• Upper Mississippi River
  Mississippi River
  The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
  
   (IA, IL, MN, MO)
• Upper Susquehanna
  Susquehanna River
  The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
  
   and Lackawanna
  Lackawanna River
  The Lackawanna River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It flows through a region of the northern Pocono Mountains that was once a center of anthracite coal mining in the United States...
  
   Rivers (PA)
• Willamette River
  Willamette River
  The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
  
   (OR)

See also

• Canadian Heritage Rivers System
  Canadian Heritage Rivers System
  The Canadian Heritage Rivers System was established in 1984 by the federal, provincial and territorial governments to conserve and protect the best examples of Canada's river heritage, to give them national recognition, and to encourage the public to enjoy and appreciate them. It is a cooperative...
  
  , Canada's counterpart to the American Heritage Rivers

External links

• American Heritage Rivers - EPA Official Site
• American Heritage Rivers Alliance