A wild river (United States, Australia, & New Zealand) or heritage river (Canada) is a :river or a river system 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."
Within some nation states including in the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, and the Commonwealth of Australia, 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:
Most recently, in Australia, following some declarations, and in the lead up to a number of other 'wild river declarations using Queensland's wild rivers legislation, Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission observed:
Wild rivers by country
Australia
In 1979, Tasmania's Hydro-Electricity Commission released a proposal to dam and inundate the Gordon () and Franklin () 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, one of Australia’s last truly wild rivers..." resulting in the river being World Heritage listed (as part of the Tasmanian Wilderness world heritage area) and a subsequent Australian High Court decision preventing the damming of this wild river.
The then Prime Minister of Australia, in December 1992, gave a 'Statement on the Environment' speech committing the Commonwealth of Australia 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 Wild Rivers Project:
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, plus "Conservation Guidelines for the Management of Wild River Values".
New South Wales opted to adapt, protect and declare wild rivers, including over of waterways and tributaries of the Grose 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". In 2007, Queensland declared its first wild rivers within the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as at Fraser Island, and Hinchinbrook Island and in April 2009 a further three wild river areas have been declared in Cape York Peninsula.
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...", being an ongoing campaign as follows:
In January 2010, the Queensland Wild Rivers Act 2005 became the subject of national interest when federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott announced a plan to 'overturn' the Act through a proposed 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 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 Cape York Peninsula under a Bio-Regional Management Plan anticipated in October 2013.
Canada
Canada has been described as follows: