West and Rhode Riverkeeper

We’re launching our 10th year as the only citizen-based environmental organization dedicated solely to protecting your rivers -- the West and Rhode Rivers.

This past year, with your help, we solved the number-one source of sediment pollution on the Rhode River. Hundreds of 6th graders from Southern Middle School planted more than 700 trees at Camp Letts, transforming a muddy horse pasture into a newly forested hillside. We created 625 feet of living shoreline, protecting the river’s edge from erosion and providing habitat for terrapins, horseshoe crabs and other Bay wild life. We’ve worked with our local communities to stabilize their shorelines and monitored the waterways so parents know when it’s safe for their kids to swim and play on their beaches.

In the year ahead, we’ll be creating another 900 feet of living shoreline, restoring a stretch of Muddy Creek, and dramatically expanding public access to our waterways at Franklin Point State Park. All this, in addition to our work to advocate for better environmental policies, enforce environmental law, stage community-building programs like the Ride for the Rivers and the RiverFest, and keep sewage from our rivers by providing pump-out service to recreational boats.

But we can’t do all we do without you. Just as the rivers need the Riverkeeper’s help, the Riverkeeper needs your help. Your financial gift is vital to the success of our efforts.  

We will leverage your tax-deductible contribution up to five times its value in grants from corporations and private foundations, as well as county, state and federal resources.

Every dollar you give means we can do $5 worth of work – planting trees, growing oysters, restoring marshes and streambeds, creating wetlands and living shorelines that will protect the West and Rhode Rivers for generations to come.

I hope we can count on your support as we chart our course for the next year. Please send the enclosed envelope back with a generous gift – or click here to make a secure donation on line.

~ Jeff Holland

West/Rhode Riverkeeper and Executive Director