In 2003, American Rivers published the first edition of Where Rivers Are Born, a document that aimed to communicate the scientific evidence for the value of headwaters to general audiences. Written by Dr. Judy Meyer and colleagues, Where Rivers Are Born has been widely regarded as a valuable tool for communicating about the ecosystem services of non-perennial streams, isolated wetlands, and other waterbodies that frequently lack legal protection. By the mid-2020s, however, both scientific and policy references of the document were due for an update. At the request of American Rivers, we recently completed a revised version of Where Rivers Are Born, which has been jointly published by American Rivers and the University of Georgia’s River Basin Center. We retained a few sections of the original prose that resonate today as well as they did when originally published, but most of text is new, along with new scientific illustrations by Emily Underwood and photographs from Freshwaters Illustrated. Like the original edition, our focus is on North America, and we specifically discuss linkages to the United States Clean Water Act, the primary statute protecting water resources in the US. However, the scientific basis for the value and services of headwater streams and wetlands applies equally across the globe, and we hope this new edition proves to be as broadly useful as the original.