Puerto Rico has 3 designated Wild and Scenic Rivers protecting 8.9 miles across 6 segments in 4 municipalities, all within El Yunque National Forest in the northeastern corner of the island. The three rivers — the Rio Mameyes, the Rio de la Mina, and the Rio Icacos — are the only tropical Wild and Scenic rivers in the United States, administered entirely by the US Forest Service. They drain the rainforest slopes of the Luquillo Mountains and represent some of the most biologically distinct protected freshwater habitat under the federal program. Click any segment on the map below for classification, mileage, and agency details.

Wild and Scenic Rivers in Puerto Rico at a Glance

Puerto Rico’s three Wild and Scenic rivers are unlike any others in the US federal system: they are tropical, short, swift, and biologically extraordinary. All three flow from the Luquillo Mountains — the highest peaks in Puerto Rico — through El Yunque National Forest, which receives among the highest annual rainfall of any land in the United States. The Mameyes, La Mina, and Icacos drain steeply from the sierra to the coastal plain and are home to native freshwater shrimp, diadromous fish, and endemic Caribbean stream fauna that have no counterparts in the continental US. The designation recognizes both the ecological rarity of these rivers and their role as the primary drinking-water source for northeastern Puerto Rico.

Classification Breakdown

The classification structure of Puerto Rico’s rivers reflects their gradient from high-elevation rain forest to accessible visitor areas. The single Wild segment (2.1 miles) lies in the most remote upper watershed where the forest is essentially undisturbed — a rarity on a heavily populated island. Scenic segments cover the majority of the mileage in the mid-elevation forest interior, while Recreational segments apply to the lower reaches near El Yunque’s visitor areas and trailheads.

Managing Agencies

The El Yunque National Forest is administered by the USFS Caribbean National Forest division, making Puerto Rico’s Wild and Scenic rivers the only ones in the program that lie entirely within a national forest on a tropical island. The USFS manages the designated rivers as part of the broader El Yunque management framework, which balances water-supply protection, biodiversity conservation, and public recreation in one of the most-visited national forests in the United States by visitor count per acre.

Designated Rivers in Puerto Rico

The Rio Mameyes is the longest and most ecologically diverse of the three designated rivers, carrying all three classification types across its 4.5 miles from upper watershed to the coast near Luquillo. It hosts the full suite of native Caribbean diadromous species — fish and shrimp that migrate between fresh and salt water — including the Sirajo goby, the mountain mullet, and several species of freshwater shrimp in the genus Atya and Macrobrachium that ascend waterfalls using their specialized appendages. The Rio de la Mina is the river most visitors encounter first: La Mina Falls within El Yunque’s visitor area is one of the most visited natural attractions in Puerto Rico, a 35-foot cascade accessible via the La Mina Trail.

Visiting the Designated Reaches

El Yunque National Forest is the gateway to all three designated rivers and is accessible from Highway 191 east of San Juan near the town of Rio Grande. La Mina Falls on the Rio de la Mina is the most accessible destination — a short hike on the La Mina Trail from the El Portal visitor center leads to a natural swimming pool at the base of the falls, one of the most popular day trips from San Juan. The Rio Mameyes is accessible near Palo Colorado Road and offers swimming holes and cascades in a forest of sierra palms and giant tabonuco trees. The upper Rio Icacos requires a longer hike into the sierra but rewards visitors with the most remote and ecologically intact tropical river experience in the US federal public land system. Swimming and wading are the primary activities in all three rivers; kayaking is not practical given the short, steep gradients and boulder-strewn channels.

Data Sources

River segment geometry, classification, mileage, and managing-agency attributes come from the US Forest Service Enterprise Data Warehouse, specifically the National Wild and Scenic River Segments dataset jointly maintained by the USFS, NPS, BLM, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Source service: USFS EDW Wild Scenic River Segments. Authoritative national index: rivers.gov. Natural history and visitor information: El Yunque National Forest (USFS Caribbean National Forest), the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. For the full national picture, visit our US Wild and Scenic Rivers map.