Meet our Waterkeepers
Kemp Burdette
Cape Fear Riverkeeper
Kemp Burdette has been the Cape Fear Riverkeeper for 11 years, working to protect and improve the water quality of the North Carolina’s largest and most diverse watershed. He is a Wilmington native who grew up exploring the waterways and swamps that make this area so special. Kemp has lived and traveled around the world as a US Navy search and rescue swimmer, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Peace Corps volunteer. Kemp is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance Council, a group of clean water advocates from around the world helping to guide international efforts to protect the world’s waterways. He’s a magna cum laude graduate of UNC-Wilmington and holds a master’s degree in public administration from UNCW. He also holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. Kemp spends his free time with daughters Olivia and Caroline traveling and exploring.
Protecting and improving the water quality of the Cape Fear River Basin for all people through education, advocacy and action.
Brandon Jones
Catawba Riverkeeper
As the Catawba Riverkeeper since 2018, Brandon Jones strives to protect the Catawba-Wateree River basin. He focuses on threats to clean water, including monitoring and addressing coal ash issues and permitted pollution discharges, stormwater runoff, concentrated animal feeding operations, and preventing waterborne diseases. He’s the foundation’s chief scientist and advocate, responsible for coordinating testing, sampling, research, and legislative initiatives. He holds a BA in economics from UNC-Chapel Hill and received his M.S. in Earth Science from UNC Charlotte; his studies focused on hydrology, specifically water chemistry. A Gaston County native, Brandon spends his free time as an avid whitewater paddler, river guide, disc golfer.
Catawba Riverkeeper preserves, protects, and restores the waters of the Catawba-Wateree River basin for all through education, advocacy, and engagement. Catawba Riverkeeper envisions a river that can sustain plentiful, clean water for generations to come.
Riley Lewis
White Oak Waterkeeper
Riley Lewis is the proud White Oak Waterkeeper with Coastal Carolina Riverwatch as of September 2022. Through her work she monitors waters for pollution, conducts outreach to community members, and advocates for water quality along NC's Crystal Coast.
Riley is a Maryland native that has spent most of her life in the Carolinas. She received her BS in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina and her MS in Coastal and Ocean Policy from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. After a term as an AmeriCorps member in Wilmington, she moved up the coast to expand her understanding and protection of water quality. Her studies and research focus on water pollutants and their impacts on local communities because she believes everyone deserves access to clean swimming, fishing, and drinking water.
Coastal Carolina Riverwatch and White Oak Waterkeeper are dedicated to uplifting all members of our community to strengthen stewardship, education, and advocacy of our waterways while developing inclusive responses to environmental health hazards in our region. Protecting quality of water and quality of life in Coastal North Carolina, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch serves a total area of 320 miles of rivers and streams, 140,104 acres of estuaries, and 129 miles of coastline. It is home to the White Oak Waterkeeper who covers the White Oak River basin.
Steven Pulliam
Dan Riverkeeper
Steven Pulliam is a river enthusiast and environmentalist from Stoneville, NC, where he grew up enjoying the riches of the Dan River Basin. Steven believes that all people within are entitled to clean air, land, and water. He serves as chairman of Good Stewards of Rockingham and the Dan Riverkeeper. Steven is a strong voice for the unheard needs of the watershed by regularly testing water quality, identifying sources of pollution, and resolving issues by all means necessary, actively protecting our environment from those who harm our natural resources. Steven held upper management positions in the airline and automotive industries for more than a decade. Previously he lived in Vero Beach, FL, and fought against nutrient discharge of Okeechobee sugar cane field waste into the Indian River Lagoon. Steven works to restore the Dan River watershed so its ecosystems, wildlife, and children have a healthy home for generations to come. He also owns an organic farm with his wife.
A program of Good Stewards of Rockingham whose mission is to protect and preserve the environment for current residents and generations to come.
Emily Sutton
Haw Riverkeeper
Emily Sutton joined the staff of Haw River Assembly in 2016, managing citizen science projects to watchdog against sediment pollution and monitor the tributaries and main stem of the Haw River. As Riverkeeper, she is leading the fight against pollution in the Haw River on many fronts, including emerging contaminants, Jordan Lake nutrients, industrial animal agriculture, and sediment pollution. Emily grew up paddling rivers in the Midwest and moved to North Carolina to receive her B.A. at Appalachian State University in Sustainable Development, where she studied Agroecology, Watershed Ecology, and Outdoor Education. Emily lives in Chatham County, NC.
The Haw River Assembly is a nonprofit citizens’ group founded in 1982 to restore and protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake, and to build a watershed community that shares this vision.
David Caldwell
Broad Riverkeeper
David Caldwell moved to the Broad River watershed in 1987 after receiving an engineering degree from Clemson University. He worked in manufacturing for several years in Shelby, and has been fishing, paddling, and exploring the watershed’s rivers and tributaries for over 30 years. In 2015, David became the Broad Riverkeeper to team up with regional representatives from the Broad River Greenway, Rutherford Outdoor Coalition, Rutherford County and Cleveland County Development Authorities and others to protect and promote the waters of the Broad River Basin. Dating to late 1990s, David has been a community advocate, helping to rebuild and restore the carousel in the City of Shelby Parks system. Since 2000, David has also run a woodworking business in Lawndale.
Hartwell Carson
French Broad Riverkeeper
Hartwell Carson has worked to protect the French Broad River for the past 11 years. He was the first responder to Asheville’s coal ash pollution, protecting the river and community by forcing Duke Energy to clean up and close down its coal-burning power plant. Hartwell also implemented the French Broad River Paddle Trail by building new campsites and access points which link over 140 miles of the French Broad River. As French Broad Riverkeeper, he has published a paddle trail map, book, app, and online guide, trained hundreds of volunteers to monitor and report sediment pollution, created the swim guide to spread awareness of and clean up bacteria pollution, repaired over 10 miles of failing dirt roads along trout streams, initiated the cleanup of several polluting dairy farms, implemented over two miles of stream restoration projects, and ensured regulations are adequate and enforced to meet Clean Water Act standards. Hartwell graduated from the University of Georgia and earned his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he examined the social and ecological impacts on the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
Andy Hill
Watauga Riverkeeper
Andy Hill is proud to serve MountainTrue as High Country Regional Director and Watauga Riverkeeper. He has a passion for clean, cold, fishable, drinkable and swimmable water. As a long-time fly fisherman, educator and guide, he’s intimately familiar with our watershed from the headwaters to the tailwater and is passionate about protecting the places we love. Andy earned his bachelor of science and master’s degree in outdoor program administration from Appalachian State University. He has led community service trips both locally and around the globe for various adventure travel programs. Andy is active in the community as founder of Fish Goat Guide Service, based in Valle Crucis, and the proud founder of the Fly Fishing Program at Lees-McRae College. He’s also an adjunct instructor at Appalachian State, teaching courses in Natural Resource Management, Paddlesports and Leadership & Group Dynamics, and serves on the board of the High Country chapter of Trout Unlimited. Andy lives on a tributary of the Watauga with his wife Bettie and their young daughter.
Erica Shanks
Green Riverkeeper
Erica Shanks is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in Spanish and Broadcast Journalism and two reputable leadership programs. She also holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. Throughout her collegiate experience, she found her passion for helping others while studying abroad in Mexico for three summers and living with amazing host families. After graduation, she spent time serving as an Americorps*VISTA Member in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she fell in love with the conservation world and local food movement. For the past 10 years, Erica has worked in the agricultural field supporting new and beginning farmers, managing farmer’s markets, running her own small farm business, and advocating for the protection of farmland for future beginning farmers. She traveled to Patagonia, Chile to volunteer with Conservacion Patagonica to learn about farming practices with a heavy focus on protecting ecosystems and regenerating the land while growing food. Erica is passionate about her rescue pittie, Fergie, hiking, backpacking, learning about new plants and mushrooms, anything on the water, and local food!
Mountain True champions resilient forests, clean waters, and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge with programs that include the French Broad Riverkeeper, Watauga Riverkeeper, Green Riverkeeper, and Broad Riverkeeper.
Katey Zimmerman
Tar-Pamlico Riverkeeper
Katey Zimmerman graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in sustainability and coastal resilience from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. Her background includes running the Swim Guide program for the Waccamaw Riverkeeper and coordinating outreach events, teaching children and adults about the watershed and how to protect it.
Originally from Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia, Katey was drawn to Coastal Carolina University’s outstanding marine sciences program. After taking a sustainability class as a freshman, her interest shifted, and when Coastal Carolina added a sustainability major the following year, her major did too. But it was when she began working with the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, that she truly found her calling.
Katey officially joined the Sound Rivers team on Sept. 19, 2023 and immediately began exploring the river and the issues facing it.
Samantha Krop
Neuse Riverkeeper
Samantha Krop is the Neuse Riverkeeper, advocating for the health of the Neuse and its many tributaries, from Durham to Havelock. Sam came to Sound Rivers from Oregon, where she served as the coalitions coordinator for the Forest Waters Coalition, a network of conservationists and community members working together to create stronger protections for Oregon’s forested watersheds. Prior to her full-time role as a coalitions builder, she taught undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in environmental justice and pedagogy at the University of Oregon. A native of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Sam is no stranger to North Carolina rivers: she spent summers at Camp Celo on the shores of the South Toe River in the Black Mountains, a place where her love of nature and future career as an environmental advocate — guided by the central tenets of equity and inclusivity — was forged.
Monitoring and protecting the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River watersheds covering nearly one quarter of North Carolina, while preserving the health and beauty of the river basin through environmental justice.
Erin Donmoyer
Black-Sampit Riverkeeper
Erin Donmoyer joined Winyah Rivers in March 2022 to watch over the Black River and Sampit River watersheds in South Carolina and n June 2022 became a licensed Riverkeeper. Erin’s programs include community engagement in water quality monitoring, river cleanup efforts, advocacy to prevent pollution, and land conservation partnerships including our Rocky Point Community Forest property and the broader Black River Water Trail and State Park Network. Prior to over two decades in the far north of Alaska and Vermont, she grew up in South Carolina, exploring the rivers and cypress swamps near her family farm on the banks of the Old Pee Dee River. Erin is a graduate of Alaska Pacific University holding double BS degrees in Environmental Science and Marine Biology.
Jefferson Currie II
Lumber Riverkeeper
Jefferson Currie II is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and joined Winyah Rivers Alliance as the Lumber Riverkeeper in 2018. He holds a BA in American Indian Studies from UNC-Pembroke and has completed coursework for his master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. Jeff has worked with Indigenous and other communities throughout the state for more than 20 years, bringing that experience to his work in the Lumber River watershed in North and South Carolina.
Protecting, preserving, monitoring and revitalizing the health of the lands and waters of the Winyah Bay watershed. 11,700 square miles in Southeast NC and Northeast SC. Winyah Rivers Alliance includes the Lumber Riverkeeper and the Waccamaw Riverkeeper.
Edgar Miller
Executive Director/Yadkin Riverkeeper
Edgar Miller is executive director and Yadkin Riverkeeper. Prior to joining Yadkin Riverkeeper, Miller served as Director of Government Relations for the Conservation Trust for North Carolina where he lobbied the NC General Assembly and US Congress on behalf of the state’s 24 land trusts. He also served on the NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund Advisory Committee and chaired the Policy Committee of the NC Local Food Council. Before moving home to North Carolina, he worked for 10 years as the Director of Policy for the National Recycling Coalition and two years as a lobbyist for the American Iron and Steel Institute, both in Washington, DC.
A Lexington, NC, native and current resident, Miller grew up swimming, fishing and skiing on High Rock Lake. As President of the Tourism Recreation Investment Partnership (TRIP) for Davidson County, he has been involved in local tourism and recreation development efforts along the river, including the establishment of the Daniel Boone Heritage Canoe Trail along 22 miles of the river bordering Davidson, Davie and Rowan Counties. “It’s important that we continue to build on Yadkin Riverkeeper’s efforts to make the public more aware of the river’s historical importance to our region’s economy and to engage stakeholders in communities along the river to protect this critical natural resource for future generations,” he said. Miller holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Botany from Duke University and Masters of Environmental Management from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
A nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to protect and enhance the Yadkin Pee Dee River basin through education, advocacy and action.