Kemp Burdette

Kemp Burdette

Cape Fear Riverkeeper

Kemp Burdette is the Cape Fear Riverkeeper and works to protect and improve the water quality of the Lower Cape Fear River. He is a Wilmington native who grew up exploring the waterways and swamps that make our area so special. Kemp has lived and travelled around the world as a US Navy search and rescue swimmer, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Peace Corps volunteer. At home and abroad Kemp has always been interested in the way humans interact with their environment.

His academic background is in geology and history, graduating from UNCW magna cum laude with honors, and he holds a master of public administration (MPA), also from UNCW. He also holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University.

Kemp spends most of his free time with his two daughters Olivia and Caroline, working in his garden, or tinkering in his workshop, or exploring the waterways and swamps of the Lower Cape Fear Region. He has been the Riverkeeper since 2010.

Kemp Burdette's Articles

Two Inches Of Rain Was All It Took


Two inches of rain was all it took to send three million gallons of hog feces and urine coursing from Sampson County’s B&L Farms to Starlins Swamp,...

“Biogas” Won’t Lead to a Cleaner, Greener North Carolina


By Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper at Cape Fear River Watch Smithfield Foods, a $15 billion company, has a plan to profit from hog waste. That...

|

We Say: Drop the “Swampwaters” Classification of the Lower Cape Fear

  • By: Kemp Burdette
  • News

According to observable facts, the lower Cape Fear River isn’t a swamp. According to North Carolina’s Environmental Management Commission, however,...