October 15, 2025Across California, stories of ecological emergency—declining salmon, vanishing wildlife, and intensifying droughts, floods, and wildfires—dominate the headlines. Yet at River Partners, we see a different story unfolding every day: renewal, resilience, and recovery.
In October, we hosted a virtual event, Hope In Action: How River Revitalization is Creating a Brighter Future for California, bringing together River Partners President Julie Rentner, Associate Restoration Science Director Michael Rogner, and Director of Tribal Engagement Austin Stevenot for an inspiring look at how river restoration is transforming California’s landscape—and what it means for our shared future.
Over 20,000 Acres Restored Since 1998
In 2025, River Partners surpassed a major milestone: restoring more than 20,000 acres of riverways across every major watershed throughout the state—a significant portion of the historic riverside lands that have been lost over the last 150 years. These revitalized landscapes now buffer downstream communities from floods, recharge groundwater, store carbon, and give people from all walks of life access to thriving natural spaces in their own backyards.
Our Most Important Project Yet?
During the event, Michael Rogner shared the remarkable story of one of our toughest, and perhaps most important projects yet: removing nearly a mile of concrete from the banks of the San Joaquin River at Dos Rios near Modesto. This painstaking work is helping recover habitat for the threatened bank swallow, whose colonies once flourished along rivers, but have declined due to extensive bank armoring.
California’s First Caretakers
Director of Tribal Engagement Austin Stevnot highlighted another vital thread in our work—reconnecting restoration with Native Californian communities. By collaborating with Tribes whose ancestral homelands align with our restoration sites, River Partners is helping restore not only hundreds of thousands of native plants, but also the cultural connections to the land that have sustained the landscapes since time immemorial.
Hope in Action
These stories remind us that hope isn’t passive—it’s a result of our action. Every acre restored, every partnership strengthened, and ever returning species to new habitat tells us the same thing: when we work together, we can create a more resilient, equitable, and biodiverse future for California.
