On October 5, 2026, Marisa Olszewski, our Maryland State Lead, had a conversation with Theaux Le Gardeur, both the RIVERKEEPER for the Middle, Gunpowder and Bush Rivers and Executive Director of Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® (GPRK). We were joined by Patrick DeArmey, attorney with Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA) to discuss some of the collaborative work the two groups have embarked on recently.
What follows is a highlight of the Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® organization, as well as their involvement with CLA on a recent settlement related to pollution affecting the Gunpowder River.
Who they are and what they do:
Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® (GPRK) protects 800 square miles across the Gunpowder, Bush, Bird, Little Gunpowder, and Middle Rivers in Baltimore and Harford Counties, encompassing Baltimore's two largest drinking water reservoirs (Prettyboy and Loch Raven) and Eastern Brook Trout tributaries.
Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® acknowledges that they protect land, water, sensitive species, and communities in the traditional territory of many nations including the Algonquin, the Susquehannock and the Delaware peoples.
GPRK starts its work with education. The organization operates the Sparks Nature Center located beside the popular NCR trail north of Baltimore City. From this base, GPRK shares information about the river and their many volunteer programs with visitors. Recently, their educational programs within Sparks Nature Center are expanding in partnership with the Youth Climate Initiative. GPRK also maintains a longstanding scholarship for youth, the Terry Newendorp Environmental Scholarship.
From education and outreach, GPRK encourages advocacy to advance the health of the rivers. Le Gardeur emphasized wanting community members and people who recreate on the river to know that “they too have a voice.” He talked about encouraging people to make public comments on projects, proposals and policies affecting the river that are meaningful to themselves and being sure to advance, through that advocacy, what they feel the remedy is or should be.
Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® defends the Gunpowder, Bush, and Middle River watersheds from environmental threats by holding polluters accountable. GRPK patrols the rivers, reviews permits, collects water quality data and represents underserved community environmental concerns. GPRK has worked with a network of lawyers and law clinics, including CLA, Georgetown University, University of Maryland, Widener University, and even Vermont Law and Graduate School law clinics.
They recently expanded monitoring efforts, receiving Tier III approval for upland bacteria (E.coli) and tidal (pH, DO, conductivity, temperature, turbidity, and salinity) programs. They have also increased efforts to train volunteers on managing invasive species, submerged aquatic vegetation, and identifying macroinvertebrates.
Recent Victory
With CLA support, GPRK intervened in a state complaint against Ridgeley’s Reserve after issuing a Notice of Intent to Sue under the Clean Water Act over sediment pollution. The resulting settlement required the developer to pay $4.1 million (a record settlement for sediment control). The Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER®’s role was to direct $2.1 Million of the total to the Chesapeake Bay Trust so that a community driven restoration project fund could be established and the GPRK is a signatory on the consent decree that created stipulated penalties for future water quality impacts.
GPRK continues monitoring the site as regulators issue ongoing fines for sediment control failures (these ongoing struggles were recently covered in this Bay Journal article).
Value of Coalition
In addition to networks of support and working together to achieve success for our local waterways and the Bay, as Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® and Chesapeake Legal Alliance have done, Le Gardeur noted that the Choose Clean Water Coalition provides capacity for members to see broader trends and policy opportunities.
