Victoria's strategy for waterway management is framed around the central ideas of evidence-based decision making and adaptive management. Investment and management programs for Victoria’s waterways must be able to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of on-ground activities in achieving management outcomes. To date there has been only modest and haphazard progress in gathering evidence that builds confidence in the effectiveness of management interventions. In response, a long-term, state-wide riparian intervention monitoring and research program has been developed that will: (i) provide rigorous evidence of riparian responses to management, (ii) understand sources of variability due to local and landscape contexts and (iii) improve conceptual models of expected outcomes of riparian management. The program has established 32 paired intervention and control sites across Victoria since 2014 where riparian vegetation condition and bank stability attributes are monitored before management and up to 10 years following management. Management interventions examined include weed control, livestock exclusion and revegetation. To provide early insights of long term responses to management, the program has used aerial imagery to assess rates of change in woody cover over time at 20 past intervention sites across the state that are up to 15 years old. An overview of the program and preliminary results will be discussed.