In December 2022, York River and its major tributaries were designated into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, after Congress approved the river designation bill and President Biden signed it into law.
York River joined 227 other rivers in this national program that was established in 1968 to protect rivers for current and future generations. Rivers designated into the national system are notable for their remarkable ecological, scenic, cultural, historic, geological, and recreational resources or features. Learn more about Wild and Scenic rivers on rivers.gov.
Designation into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System provides funding, resources, and technical assistance to support local river protection and preservation efforts. The local York River Stewardship Committee was formed after the river was designated and includes appointees from the four York River watershed towns: Eliot, Kittery, South Berwick and York. The Stewardship Committee coordinates implementation of the York River Watershed Stewardship Plan, in collaboration with the National Park Service, the federal agency partner for all Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers.
View News Center Maine’s ‘207’ video feature on York River and Wild and Scenic designation.
A 14-year record of milestones and steps in the process of achieving Wild and Scenic River designation for York River is detailed in this 2008-2022 TIMELINE.
Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers
York River is one of 18 Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers. PWSRs are a subset of the nationally-designated Wild and Scenic rivers that do not flow through federal parks or other federally owned lands. For each PWSR, a local committee or council oversees implementation of a river management plan, leads community engagement, and coordinates river stewardship activities in cooperation with the National Park Service, the federal agency partner for all PWSRs. The ‘Partnership’ Wild and Scenic River model has been used for nearly 30 years and was developed to meet the needs of rivers characterized by private land ownership and well-established local processes for governance and stewardship of river resources.
For more information:
- River Connections – Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers (video feature)
- Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers: A Primer, developed by National Park Service PWSR Program
A Partnership Wild and Scenic River designation maintains existing local control. Private property rights are not affected. A PWSR designation does not put land under federal control, does not require public access to private land, does not change any existing land uses, does not force any changes in local land-use decision-making processes or objectives, does not create new federal permits or regulations, does not prevent access to or use of the river or watershed lands, and does not affect hunting and fishing laws.
The PWSR designation does help facilitate local-state-federal coordination, does provide annual funding through the National Park Service PWSRs Program and access to other funding opportunities, does create a local committee to coordinate and engage community members in river protection, does enable development of a river management plan, and does create new opportunities to implement locally-led river protection strategies. No new dams can be constructed on designated rivers, and the National Park Service will review and evaluate in-river projects that involve federal funds or permits to ensure that they do not degrade the river resources that were the basis for designation.
© Jerry Monkman, Ecophotography