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

Katy Smith, Chair - Glynn County
Levi Welling, Vice Chair - Ware County
Kellie Parr, Treasurer - Glynn County
Jessica Deal, Secretary - Ware County
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Jim Cottingham - Coffee County
Stephanie Porter - Glynn County
Nik Antczak - Brantley County
Clay Montague, Honorary - Camden County
Wilton Deloach, Honorary - Ware County
George Varn Jr., Honorary - Charlton County

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About Our Riverkeeper - Shannon Gregory

I could not be more excited to serve as the Satilla Riverkeeper. I was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia where I spent my childhood wandering along the Augusta Canal and Savannah River. From an early age I developed a deep appreciation for nature. I went on to complete a bachelor's degree in biology with a concentration in ecology at Augusta University. As a student I became interested in the role that toxicology plays on individual species and ecosystems. As a result, I began researching the impacts of ocean acidification on fiddler crab regeneration. In 2014, I joined Satilla Science and began monthly sampling in the Satilla River Estuary examining species diversity surrounding man-made cuts in surrounding tidal creeks. This multi-university collaborative study contributed to the Noyes Cut restoration in the mouth of the Satilla River.
      I later went on to complete a master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries biology at Clemson University. While enrolled in school I had an amazing opportunity to work as a research technician at Savannah River Ecology Lab where I assisted on multiple studies including the transmission of heartworms through mosquitos, the potential for rabies transmission in relocated raccoons and opossums, and wild boar fertility impacted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. During my studies to fulfill my degree, I examined the potential for imposex in male blue crabs when exposed to synthetic estrogens. I have always been enthusiastic about research and have presented my research over the years at both regional and international conferences.
      After graduation, I began teaching environmental biology at Augusta University. During my teaching career I wanted to provide students with a “hands-on” approach to environmental issues. As a result, I organized multiple wetland cleanups to improve the quality of the wetlands and highlight pollution issues covered in lecture. In addition to teaching, I served as the Program Chair for the Southeastern Estuarine Research Society.
      After falling in love with the Satilla River over the years, I am proud to call the watershed home and I look forward to serving as the Satilla Riverkeeper. Together we can continue the Satilla Riverkeeper’s mission of protecting, restoring, and educating.

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 Our Water Quality & Outreach Coordinator - Lex Bowick

I am absolutely ecstatic to be able to serve as the Water Quality & Outreach Coordinator for the Satilla Riverkeepers! I grew up in Waycross, Georgia, exploring the beauty of the Satilla River as a young child. I’ve always had a fascination for nature and all the different critters that inhabit it. I remember being a small kid playing with the rolly pollies and chasing the little green anoles around the pecan orchard. I spent a majority of my childhood summers camping, swimming, and fishing on the lovely Satilla that I now get to protect and preserve. 
      I graduated high school in 2019 and started working at a wastewater testing laboratory shortly after. While working there, I was able to obtain both the Wastewater Laboratory Analyst and the Drinking Water Laboratory Analysts certifications as well as gain tons of experience operating in a lab setting. The amount of knowledge and exposure that I gained from working in the lab, and with the people surrounding it, helped me reawaken that passion of the environment I had as adolescent. I now enjoy spending my free time learning how to forage in our environment, creating all sorts of artworks depicting the natural beauties we have in the area, and collecting all sorts of oddities on my explorations. 
      I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to learn and protect the Satilla River. It genuinely is such a natural wonder, and I hope to aid in the preservation of it so that many generations after me can also appreciate and call the Satilla their home.

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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 became 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! 

Please read more about our history here.

Our History

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

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