Then and Now: 25 Years of Change in River Restoration and the Environmental Movement

This year marks the 25th anniversary of RRNW—a milestone we’ll be highlighting throughout the year in a variety of ways, from storytelling and reflections to community connections that honor where we’ve been and where we’re headed. As we celebrate this moment, it offers a valuable opportunity to look back at how both RRNW and the broader environmental field have evolved over the past quarter century.

Twenty-five years ago, the environmental field was in a formative phase—full of momentum, but still defining its frameworks. In the early 2000s, climate change was widely acknowledged but not yet embedded in project design or funding structures. Restoration projects often emphasized site-scale interventions—placing large wood, stabilizing banks, or improving fish passage—while broader system dynamics like watershed processes, sediment transport, and long-term resilience were only beginning to take hold in practice.

Within this context, RRNW emerged as a small but vital network of practitioners. Founded in the late 1990s, the organization served as a grassroots convening space for scientists, engineers, and agency staff working to understand what effective river restoration actually looked like. Early symposiums were modest in size and informal in structure, prioritizing knowledge exchange over polished programming. RRNW’s role was less about leading the field and more about connecting it—creating a shared space for a discipline that was still coalescing.

At the same time, foundational ideas that now shape environmental work were just beginning to surface. The field was building its scientific and technical foundation, but the integrative frameworks that define today’s work were still on the horizon.

Today, the landscape looks fundamentally different. Climate change is no longer a peripheral consideration and restoration has evolved from isolated interventions to process-based, system-scale approaches that prioritize resilience, connectivity, and multiple benefits. 

RRNW has grown alongside this evolution, transforming into a regional leader and convener, hosting large, sold-out symposiums, supporting mentorship programs, and fostering a community that reflects the increasing complexity and interdisciplinarity of the field.

Looking back, the past 25 years tell a story. What began as a collection of emerging ideas has become a cohesive, integrated approach to our work. RRNW’s trajectory mirrors this shift: from a scrappy, grassroots network to a cornerstone of the river restoration community!