Despite covering a relatively small portion of the Earth’s surface, freshwater ecosystems offer habitat for an outsized diverse range of species. However, they are also uniquely threatened from land use and climate change. To safeguard biodiversity, the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) set international goals for conservation by 2030 and 2050. Target 3 of the GBF, in particular, sets an objective to protect 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas, specifically those of significant importance for biodiversity. National campaigns such as the America the Beautiful and the Freshwater Challenge set similar goals in the U.S. Here, we measure progress against a 30% protection target for streams within the conterminous U.S., in terms of quantity, representation, and effectiveness of protection for biodiversity under different protection strategies, either via land ownership and management or corridor protection via the National Wild and Scenic River System (NWSRS). We evaluated the geophysical and biogeographical diversity of streams falling under these protection measures. Additionally, we assessed the extent of protected systems that simultaneously suffer from human disturbances. When not considering impairment, approximately 30% of streams are protected explicitly for land-based biodiversity conservation, whereas 34% are protected by any land-based protection scheme. Less than 1 % of streams have corridor protection via the NWSRS. Despite rates of land protection approaching GBF targets, only 5% of the most prevalent forms of stream physical diversity are protected. Furthermore, anywhere from 8% to 19% of streams designated as protected under land management also exceed thresholds of potential habitat impairment. More effective conservation strategies, particularly targeted and intentional protection for unrepresented stream types, are necessary to achieve the GBF 30x30 target for U.S. lotic ecosystems.