Networks are structures of interdependence involving multiple actors or organizations that extend beyond the formally established linkages and policy-legitimated ties (O’Toole, 1997).  Governance is the process of creating conditions for ordered rules and collective action through the structures and processes through which people in societies make decisions and share power. Governance can be institutionalized or expressed through more subtle and indirect forms of interactions between actors regarding decisions of accessing resources and policy implementation and change (Lebel et al., 2006).  Amin and Hausner (1997) write that a society is comprised of “a web of interlocking networks of affiliation and interaction which are structured around a multiplicity of institutions, formal and informal.” Actors operate through associational networks, and while some networks are formally created, there are also informal or ad hoc networks. Formal collaborative networks are initiated by authorities and are usually supported through institutional interactions, whereas informal networks mobilize actors on a ‘as needs’ basis. The informal networks provide flexible structures that are inclusive and information rich that facilitate learning and knowledge creation, needs that are posed by “wicked problems” (Isett et al., 2011).

 The focus of this paper is this informal action within the ad hoc or informal networks and its role in implementing and shaping policy in linked socio-ecological systems; in this case the heavily urbanized Cuyahoga river in Cleveland. The governance of an urban river is shaped through the complex interplay of both the formal action through federal, state, and local level policies governing the resource and the city, and the more informal action that takes place through networks of activities in which actors interested in that area of policy participate. In this paper the author undertakes a social network analysis along with a stakeholder analysis of the network structure of the key groups that interact. The network and stakeholder analysis sheds light on how informality plays out through policies created an implemented at various scales and provides a clearer illustration of the tensions between a traditional institutionalized - hierarchical approach and the more loosely structured interpersonal framework. In the case of the governance of “wicked” problems with contested resources like the Cuyahoga River, informal social networks are the incubators of new knowledge for governing linked social-ecological systems (Folke et al., 2005; Hillier, 2000) aiding in better policy implementation, enhanced innovation, and flexibility. The analyses demonstrate how key actors within these informal networks facilitate information flows, identify knowledge gaps, and create nodes of expertise.