Wild river

Wild River
An example of a wild river, the Franklin River, protected as part of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in Tasmania

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 its natural values intact."

Within some nations 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.

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