The Satilla Riverkeeper is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, founded in 2004 to protect, restore, and educate about the Satilla River, its tributaries, and watershed. 
We are the eyes and ears of the watershed and estuary.

Our Purpose

Board of Directors

Chair: Jim Cottingham - Coffee County
Vice Chair: Guy Moorman - Coffee County
Treasurer: Clay Montague - Camden County
Secretary: Wilton Deloach - Ware County
Carol McNeary - Pierce County
Billy Michael Lee - Brantley County
Beth Waters - Wayne County
George Varn Jr. - Charlton County
Ashe Kelly - Pierce County
Greg Williford - Wayne County

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ABOUT OUR RIVERKEEPER - LAURA EARLY

I am grateful and honored for the opportunity to serve as your Satilla Riverkeeper. As a South Carolinian, my first encounter with the Satilla River watershed was as a sea turtle technician on Cumberland Island. I was captivated by the ecosystems, history, and communities of coastal Georgia, and this region has never really let me go. I worked with extension programs at the University of Florida and Clemson University, as well as a small nonprofit in Sanibel, Florida before I returned to the Georgia coast as a naturalist on Little St. Simons Island.  As my understanding of the region grew, I recognized the vital connections between the rivers and coastal ecosystems--and the people that depend on them. To become better equipped to protect these important resources, I decided to enter an interdisciplinary graduate school program at the University of Georgia. I earned my Masters of Science in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development in 2016, in which my research focused on environmental impacts of land use changes in the Satilla watershed. I am elated to return to coastal Georgia after a year in Washington, DC where I have worked in NOAA’s National Sea Grant Office. I love this area and all that it has to offer, and I am excited to work with all of you.

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Our Beginnings

In 2000, a passionate Satilla River loving group of individuals, saw that their beloved river was being threatened by a multitude of polluters and joined forces to do something about it. They felt that the Satilla was a beautiful but forgotten river. Some of these individuals had worked diligently on solid-waste issues in Waycross, bringing a lot of press and pressure on waste generators to slow down or stop the tremendous amount of garbage and trash washing into the river. The momentum was slowly building to do great things for the Satilla. Read more about our history.

The Satilla Riverkeeper organization become a fully licensed 501© 3 organization in July of 2004. The first director and Riverkeeper, Gordon Rogers, was a child of the Satilla. He had caught his first fish in her waters, canoed her streams as a youth, conducted scientific research in her estuaries, and had lived near her for the better part of a decade. Gordon would soon make the Satilla Riverkeeper organization a thriving and common place name in environmental activism in the Satilla watershed, serving as a watchdog for pollution problems on the river. Satilla Riverkeeper, an official effort dedicated to the expensive and time-consuming business of conserving and restoring our precious river, still remains strong today. Satilla Riverkeeper is a grassroots organization, but membership must be paid for, because effective, professional keeping is expensive. We hope that you will join us in our efforts to PROTECT, RESTORE and EDUCATE about our beautiful Satilla! 

Donate to Preserve


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Help keep the Satilla Riverkeeper a strong force for the environment by joining as a member, or making a donation.