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 free flowing rivers without dams.
Read more about Wild River: Concerns About The Term, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words wild and/or river:
“O lyric Love, half angel and half bird
And all a wonder and a wild desire.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“My favorite figure of the American author is that of a man who breeds a favorite dog, which he throws into the Mississippi River for the pleasure of making a splash. The river does not splash, but it drowns the dog.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)