The global climate crisis and local human development continue to impair and further threaten the resilience and biodiversity of streams and rivers. The abundant diversity of freshwater species can persist in the face of these threats if stream and river corridors can provide a resilient and connected network with habitats of sufficient quality and adequate water availability. The Nature Conservancy developed the “resilient river explorer” using an extensive analysis of physical in-stream, floodplain, and watershed data to assess freshwater resilience across the conterminous United States (CONUS). The tool also identifies the streams and rivers that, if protected or restored, could sustain freshwater biodiversity into the future despite global environmental changes. The analysis determined that 36.6% of stream miles in CONUS are necessary to meet the goal of sustaining freshwater ecosystems; 20% of stream miles are currently resilient, 15% could be resilient with restoration, and 1.8% in xeric and arid regions require additional verification. In addition, the tool categorized the potentially resilient watersheds by restoration priority, which included re-establishing flow conditions, improving habitat quality, or re-connecting watersheds via barrier removal. Here, we provide a broad overview of the publicly available resilient river explorer and demonstrate the utility of the tool with several case studies. In Wisconsin, we applied the tool to direct our research and conservation initiatives in barrier removals and protection efforts. The mapping results from the tool provided robust data to leverage both strategic partnerships and funding support. We are confident that the resilient river explorer will provide academic researchers, agency scientists, management practitioners, and many others a powerful tool to highlight priority watersheds and the rivers therein to protect and restore in our rapidly changing world.