The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is the nation's principal tool for accomplishing river conservation. Congress intended for the Act to apply to rivers regardless of ownership of adjacent lands, but efforts to implement the Act on rivers bordered by private property have met with limited success. This paper presents the underlying issues related to private land applications, explores the range of ideas and opinions existing among river conservation experts, agency river planners and others regarding how to work with these issues, identifies areas of general concurrence and least agreement, and makes recommendations for future private land applications of the Act.