Photos of rivers for students

Last updated: May 18, 2012.

Looking for photos of rivers to illustrate your school or college project? You've come to the right place. We've collected together a mini "photo library" of over 50 public domain (copyright free) images you can use without worrying about copyright. Most of the photos on this page come from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and we thank them for their generosity in making so many photos available on their website; some of the other photos come from the US Navy; and there are a few photos we took ourselves. There are lots more river photos on the FWS photo library (keyword search on "river").

We also have a separate page of water pollution photos.

Click on the thumbnail images to see a full-size picture. If you need a hi-res image for printing, you'll need to visit the website on the right and search.

Thumbnail Click for bigger picture	Description	Source
	US rivers and streams The Rio Grande river in Big Bend National Park. Photo by Gary M. Stolz.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams View across the Tuluksak River and tundra, western Alaska. Photo by John Tobin, US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams Kayaking on the Black River, Yukon FlatsNational Wildlife Refuge.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams Chandalar River in Summer, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams Chandalar River in Summer, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Chuck Young, US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams Cheat River in West Virginia. Photo by Ryan Hagerty.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams North Fork, Flathead River, MT. Photo by Ryan Hagerty.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	US rivers and streams Teamwork protects our rivers: seining for Invertebrates in West Virginia. Photo by Brian Jonkers.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	UK rivers and streams River Piddle, Wareham, Dorset photographed in summer. Photo by Chris Woodford.	UK Rivers Network
	UK rivers and streams River Itchen, Winchester, Hampshire. A chalk-stream river photographed in winter. Photo by Chris Woodford.	UK Rivers Network
	UK rivers and streams The chalk-stream river River Test passing through the grounds of Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire. Photo by Chris Woodford.	UK Rivers Network
	UK rivers and streams River Bourne, Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire. A chalk-stream river photographed in Summer. Photo by Malcolm Morley.	Wikipedia
	River features: deltas Noatak River Delta, Alaska. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: deltas Noatak River Delta by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: islands Aerial of Jameson Island in the Big Muddy. Photo by Steve Hillebrand.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: meanders The meandering Innoko River at the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo by Sidney Charbonet.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: meanders The meandering Innoko River at the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: braided river Braided River outwash plain. Photo by Chuck Young.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: confluence and meanders Alatna and Koyukuk River confluence near Allakaket. Photo by Steve Hillebrand.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: bank erosion Side channel of the Missouri River, showing erosion and downed trees. Photo by Photo by Steve Hillebrand.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: confluence Confluence of Chisana And Nabesna Rivers. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: confluence Canning River Confluence of Marsh Fork. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: braided river Braided River and Road Scars in Summer - Aerial View. Photo by Elaine B. Rhode.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: cypress swamp The ancient bald cypress trees, some more than 1,000 years old, in Cypress Creek Refuge, Illinois, part of an area designated a "Wetland of International Importance" by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Photo by Ned Trovillion.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: swamp Bond Swamp NWR, Round Oak, Georgia: Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge sits on the fall line that separates the piedmont plateau and the coastal plains. The Ocmulgee River and Stone Creek, which run through the refuge from north to south, were important to Native Americans from Ice Age hunters to the Muscogee (Creeks) and Seminoles of more recent history as well as early European explorers and frontiersmen. Photo by John and Karen Hollingsworth.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: waterfall Waterfall. Photo by Curtis J. Carley.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: waterfall Tower Falls. Photo by Bruce Halstead.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: beaver dam Beaver dam. Photo by Luther C. Goldman.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: human dam Trinity Lake on Trinity River, formed behind Trinity Dam, California.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: hydroelectric dam Dam on Columbia River. Photo by John and Karen Hollingsworth.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River features: weir The triple weir on the River Avon, Bath, England. Photo by Chris Woodford.	UK Rivers Network
	Fish and rivers Combat Fishing Along the Banks of the Russian River. Photo by Steve Hillebrand	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Photo by Eric Engbretson.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Fisherman with 30-pound King Salmon caught on the Deshka River in southcentral Alaska. Photo by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers A chum salmon taken at Alexander Creek, Alaska. Photo by Jack Roberts.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Arctic grayling at the Gulkana River, Paxson, Alaska. Photo by Phil Coleman.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Atlantic Salmon smolts. Photo by Peter Steenstra.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Painting of salmon leaping by Bob Hines.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Fish and rivers Arctic salmon leaping. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River habitats Airport Marsh at Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in Michigan. The habitats protected and restored by the refuge will provide hospice for some 300 species of migratory birds, including 29 waterfowl species, and 65 fish species. Some 3 million migrating waterfowl naturally follow the western shoreline of Lake Erie, where they stop to rest and feed in the river and in its nearby marshes. Photo by Gary Muehlenhardt.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River habitats Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Brigham City, Utah 74,000 acres of river delta spill across the Great Salt Lake valley welcoming hundreds of species of waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors. Photo by USFWS Photo.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River habitats A brown bear hunting at the edge of a river, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo by Steve Hillebrand.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River habitats Brown bear on rock in river. Photo by Chuck Young.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River habitats A pair of river otters. Photo by Jim Leopold.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Flooding A flooded river near Alimodian in the Republic of the Philippines flows perilously close to homes. Photo by Jennifer S. Kimball, US Navy.	US Navy
	Flooding Flood damage, outhouse overturned. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Flooding Flood damage, inlet and levee destroyed. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	Flooding Flood damage, road washed out. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River transport Cessna Floatplane Parked on Keoklevik River. Photo by Donna Dewhurst.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River transport Naval training on the Salt River, Kentucky. Photo by Jayme Pastoric.	US Navy
	River transport River rafting on the Colorado River, Arizona. Photo by Jim Williams.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River transport An umiak: a traditional skin-covered boat used by native hunters. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.	US Fish and Wildlife Service
	River bridges A ship passes under the Willamette River's Steel Bridge. Photo by Thomas Brennan.	US Navy
	What rivers mean to people People gather on a riverbank in Bangladesh to receive supplies from a dhow in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Sidr. Photo by Ezekiel R. Kitandwe.	US Navy
	What rivers mean to people People gather on a riverbank in Bangladesh to receive supplies from a dhow in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Sidr. Photo by Anthony J. DeCapite.	US Navy

Photos on Flickr

If you're looking for a photo of a specific British river, try the Flickr group pool: River Names of Britain (this link takes you to an A-Z index of rivers by name). Please pay careful attention to copyright notices if you use photos from Flickr: many photos are copyright, though quite a lot are published under various Creative Commons licenses, generously allowing you to reuse them for non-profit purposes under certain conditions.