Nature-based recreation (NBR; e.g., bird watching, fishing, hiking) is vital for a community’s physical and mental health. However, watershed managers need tools to determine how well their waterbodies support NBR, and thus they struggle to communicate the benefits of their decisions to the public. We used community-science datasets of natural history observations (e.g., iNaturalist, eBirds) to determine where NBR occurs within Southern California’s coastal watersheds. We identified “hot spots” with high NBR and “cold spots” where NBR is less than expected. Regionally, NBR was not strongly related to ecological health, as the highest levels of NBR occurred in urban areas where ecological quality was poorest. However, within urban areas, NBR was higher near parks with natural areas and good public access points. The next phase of this study is to quantitatively evaluate factors that drive support for NBR and develop models to predict increases in NBR from restoration activities or water quality improvements. We will establish thresholds to identify waterbodies that adequately support NBR at levels appropriate for the surrounding land use and population density. Ultimately, this assessment framework will be integrated into decision-support systems that help managers evaluate multiple (sometimes competing) benefits of projects, such as stream restorations.