Guardians of Our Coast

     The WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE is the umbrella organization for the 63 keeper programs located throughout North and Central America. Other NC based KEEPERS^® include the Cape Fear River, New River, Neuse River, French Broad River and Catawba RIVERKEEPERS^®. The KEEPER^® philosophy is a perfect match with that of the Coastal Federation – that the protection and enjoyment of a community's natural resources requires the daily vigilance of its citizens.
     The KEEPER^® Program started on New York's Hudson River where a coalition of commercial and recreational fishermen mobilized in 1966 to reclaim the Hudson from polluters. They built a boat to patrol the River, hired the first full-time RIVERKEEPER^® in 1983 and began filing lawsuits against municipal and industrial polluters. By 1998, they had filed over 150 successful legal actions against Hudson River polluters. Largely as a result of their work, the river that was once dead for large stretches in 1966 is one of the richest water bodies in the North Atlantic. The Hudson's miraculous recovery has helped to make the KEEPER^® program an international model for ecosystem protection.

     Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is President of the WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE, which is based out of White Plains, NY. The son of the late US Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY, Kennedy, Jr. is a renowned environmental lawyer, writer and activist. He is chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson RIVERKEEPER^® Fund and senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has successfully argued cases to expand citizen access to the shoreline and to promote environmental justice. Kennedy has written numerous articles on environmental law and litigation, environmental justice and advocacy. With John Cronin, he wrote The RIVERKEEPERS, published in 1997.