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Riparian and wet meadow ecosystems comprise small percentages of aridland landscapes, but provide critical resources for upland, riparian, and stream-dependent species and supply water to downstream users and communities. Many of these systems have been degraded by various anthropogenic activities and are further threatened by climate change. We are developing a strategic, multi-scale framework for assessing resource values and threats to riparian and meadow ecosystems using resilience science that is broadly applicable. The framework provides the capacity to (1) prioritize riparian ecosystems for management based on ecosystem characteristics and response to disturbance, and (2) determine effective management strategies based on ecosystem resilience and resource values. We define resilience of wet meadow and riparian ecosystems as the capacity to regain fundamental structure, processes, and functioning when stressors and disturbances alter geomorphic and hydrologic regimes and vegetation communities. The framework builds on our prior development of a hierarchical classification of watershed types and their relative resilience to disturbance and is based on watershed geology and hydrogeomorphic characteristics, riparian corridor and valley characteristics and valley segment and stream reach characteristics. Similarly, meadow types are classified based on watershed, valley segment, and reach-scale geomorphic and hydrologic characteristics, and relative resilience to disturbance. �We are identifying focal species, including Lahontan cutthroat trout and Greater sage-grouse, and evaluating their associations with watersheds with different hydrogeomorphic relationships and relative resilience. We also are identifying the key threats within the watershed and determining how they vary across the region. Databases, field guides, and other tools are being developed in collaboration with regional managers. The framework enables managers to use the best science available to focus management actions in locations where they will have the greatest benefits for restoring and maintaining wet meadows and riparian ecosystems and conserving the many species that they support.