Kenny Fletcher
Kenny Fletcher lives in Richmond less than a mile from the James River's rapids, but grew up surrounded by the Bay's brackish waters in southern Maryland.
He has a degree in Spanish from St. Mary's College of Maryland and a master's in journalism from the University of Maryland. His work has been published by Smithsonian Magazine and numerous newspapers and magazines throughout Virginia and Maryland.
In his free time Kenny loves exploring rivers and creeks by canoe, fishing for rockfish on the Bay, and hiking with his family. His favorite place in the Bay watershed is Dragon Run, a pristine swamp in Virginia's Middle Peninsula.
Kenny's Posts
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The Bay Watershed's 11 Most Unexpected Places to Vote
September 24, 2024
What's it like to cast your vote at a whiskey distillery, nature center, or Pennsylvania Dutch Smorgasbord?
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Does the Chesapeake Bay Get Allergies?
April 24, 2024
Every April, pollen becomes an inescapable part of life in the Chesapeake region. Trees, following their age-old instinct to reproduce, release puffs of this fine yellow-green dust. What does it mean for the Bay?
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Living Shoreline Builds Resilience—and Community
November 8, 2023
This summer, roughly 90 volunteers from all walks of life came together for 10 weeks to restore waterfront in Portsmouth, Virginia. Community and comradery ensued.
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From Trash to Community Treasure
June 28, 2023
Clean the Bay Day volunteers made a difference in Richmond this year with the Capital Region Land Conservancy by removing 147 tires from a future greenway.
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How Worried Should You Be About Striped Bass?
May 8, 2023
Under the ASMFC’s action last week, Atlantic Coast states will be implementing a 31-inch maximum size limit for striped bass.The organization also voted to start a process to make additional changes to fishery regulations later this year. Chris Moore, CBF’s Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist, tells us what Bay anglers need to know.
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A Digital Folk Artist's Take on Clean the Bay Day
April 24, 2023
Dwight Easter, artist and longtime Hampton Roads resident, discusses litter, beachgoing, and creating art.
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Groundbreaking Greenhouse Gas-Reduction Program at Risk in Virginia
December 7, 2022
By ending participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, often called RGGI, Virginia would lose a key tool for reducing air pollution from power plants, which contributes to pollution to the Bay.
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Toxic Waste Hits Home in Hampton Roads
November 4, 2022
As EPA plans cleanup, pollution sparks concern in a Portsmouth community. High tides and heavy rains wash floodwaters over the contaminated site in low-lying Hampton Roads, polluting waterways, threatening wildlife, and creating a public health risk.
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Lake Anna Added to Virginia Dirty Waters List
August 23, 2022
Algal blooms threaten a water lover's paradise.
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To Unpave Paradise, Pull Up a Parking Lot
July 15, 2022
CBF and Branch's Baptist Church look to nature to solve environmental, health, and economic problems in Richmond.
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When the Student Becomes the Teacher
May 12, 2022
As CBF holds a celebration marking the success of the Macon and Joan Brock Classroom, this is just one example of the many amazing ways our partnership with Virginia Beach City Public Schools is building the next generation of environmental leaders.
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One 'Really Empowering' Trip to Richmond
March 22, 2022
High schooler Jordyn Lewis meets with Virginia senators and delegates to urge support for environmental literacy.
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Miniature Marvels
January 12, 2022
Lined seahorses rely on the Bay's underwater grass beds for food, shelter, and a place to breed.
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Winter Leviathan
January 6, 2022
Known for their acrobatics, humpback whales sometimes venture into the Chesapeake to feed.
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'Trashion' Fashion Meets the Chesapeake Bay
December 2, 2021
Fashion designer and CBF volunteer Sonya Phillips raises awareness for the Bay in an unexpectedly chic way.
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Harmful Algal Blooms: Red Tides, Cyanobacteria, and Filamentous Clumps are Clogging Chesapeake Waters
August 31, 2021
What are they, and what can we do about them?
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Freshwater Mussels: Wild, Wonderful, and Waning
August 16, 2021
Carolina Slabshells, Tidewater Muckets, Green Floaters—an amazing diversity of freshwater mussels call the rivers and streams of the Bay watershed home. But we’re losing species faster than we can understand them.
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Kids Learn about Our Watershed Anytime with Backyard Bay Savers
July 20, 2021
Learning comes naturally when students find connections to their everyday lives. Backyard Bay Savers shines a new light on what kids see every day in our region.
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Cuidando los Ríos
July 19, 2021
Efraín Carcamo y sus tres hijos cruzan rocas en la orilla del río James en Richmond, buscando basura que la corriente dejó entre piedras y ramas.
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Healing Waters
July 19, 2021
Efrain Carcamo passes on his love of nature to his three children as they hunt for litter lodged by the current among rocks and branches along the James River in Richmond, VA.
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Brock Classroom Wraps Up Its First School Year
July 15, 2021
In the heart of Virginia Beach, a city classroom connects students directly to nature.
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A Lost River Restored
March 14, 2021
The Eastern Branch of Hampton Roads' Elizabeth River, sometimes called the “lost branch,” is the second tributary in Virginia to reach its oyster restoration milestones.
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The Tide is Turning on Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic
March 5, 2021
The Biden administration freezes new drilling leases across the country, a promising signal that they take the risks of offshore drilling and threat of climate change seriously.
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Reforesting Richmond
December 16, 2020
A CBF volunteer advocate gives away 12,000 trees, creating a healthier Richmond for all.
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Little Fish, Big Success
December 15, 2020
Virginia fisheries advocate John Bello was part of a team that advocated for the scientific management of the Bay’s important menhaden.
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Transforming Hopewell: From Chemical Spills to Community Trees
November 11, 2020
A small Virginia city is planting trees—and hope—for the future.
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How to Canoe With Young Kids
May 28, 2020
This summer, take your kids canoeing with a few helpful tips from our staff.
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Environmental Justice Court Win Comes at Pivotal Time in Virginia
January 15, 2020
A major court win last week for the people of Union Hill could help move the needle in the right direction for Virginia to meaningfully apply environmental justice.
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Defending Clean Air and Water for Union Hill
November 6, 2019
Last week, CBF challenged a key permit for a proposed natural gas-burning compressor station in court, defending the right of people in the historic African-American community of Union Hill to continue to breathe clean air.
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Old Dominion Clean Water Memories
October 22, 2019
This fall, 34 Virginia Clean Water Captains gathered together at CBF's Brock Environmental Center for a weekend of discussion, learning, and preparation for year filled with advocacy.
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Community, Wildlife, and Clean Water at Mulberry Run Wetlands
September 27, 2019
From boggy and grassy to teaming with plants and wildlife, the manmade wetland in Waynesboro, VA is bringing new joy and less flooding to the Jefferson Park Neighborhood.
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Summertime Learning, Brock Center Style
August 7, 2019
Summertime and being on the water go together like crabs and Old Bay. And while school is still out for most kids, the Chesapeake Bay is a great place to learn when the weather’s warm.
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Onancock's Burnham Guides Marks 10 Years of Dedication to Clean the Bay Day
July 29, 2019
Every year since 2009, the kayak guides have paddled Onancock Creek with a group of about 20 local volunteers to clean up trash in the waterway and surrounding marshes.
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Healthy Living and Family Legacy Under Threat in Union Hill
July 3, 2019
Richard Walker's ancestral homestead is the historically black community of Union Hill, VA, where his family still lives. But Union Hill's "healthy living" is being threatened by a compressor station that burns natural gas 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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‘A Breath of Fresh Air’
May 16, 2019
Immigrant high school students discover the Bay’s rivers with CBF.
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What You Need to Know about Virginia’s Clean Water Blueprint
April 30, 2019
Virginia’s Clean Water Blueprint (also known as the the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan) is the single most important road map to restoring Virginia’s waterways
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One Prolific Voice for Clean Water
March 12, 2019
CBF's Hampton Roads Grassroots Manager Tanner Council describes Hampton resident Claire Neubert as one of the most prolific volunteers CBF has ever worked with.
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An Oyster Champion in Virginia
February 27, 2019
One student is on a quest to officially recognize the importance of oysters in Virginia.
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A Breakthrough on Coal Ash Cleanup
January 31, 2019
Hazardous coal ash has been precariously stored in unlined ponds at four sites along the James, Potomac, and Elizabeth rivers, but elected leaders in Virginia are now requiring it be moved.
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Tom and Andrew's Blog
November 8, 2018
Many are asking what yesterday's election will mean for the Bay. Our staff are assessing the new political landscape and the opportunities and challenges that may lie ahead.
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Renowned Photographer James Balog Talks Climate Change and the Bay
October 11, 2018
For decades, photographer James Balog has focused on the relationship between people and nature. For his latest project, Balog traveled across the country to examine how people are altering the elements of life—from wildfires to air pollution to rising waters.
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CBF Brings Bedford Farmers to the Bay
August 22, 2018
Last July, 10 farmers from the base of Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains in Bedford County spent an eye-opening weekend on islands in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay during CBF's latest Farmers to the Bay excursion.
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Slowing the Flow: A Revitalized Creek Leads to a Cleaner Lynnhaven River
February 15, 2018
Mill Dam Creek in suburban Virginia Beach is being revitalized, which will result in a healthier Lynnhaven River.
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On Third Anniversary, CBF's Brock Environmental Center Inspires
November 16, 2017
As the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's (CBF) Brock Environmental Center marks its third year, the building continues to surpass expectations for sustainability and has become an environmental hub for the community.
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Saplings from Historic Emancipation Oak Planted at Brock Environmental Center
November 6, 2017
On the morning of Saturday November 4, 2017, youth from a Virginia Beach 4-H club planted 12 saplings from the historic Emancipation Oak at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach.
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Amazing Life in the Lafayette's Waters!
September 25, 2017
Amazing critters are thriving in the Lafayette River, an urban waterway entirely within Norfolk city limits. The great variety of life found on a recent biological survey of the Lafayette River is one more sign that this once-polluted river is getting better.
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A Bay Saver's Brew: Turning Rainwater into Beer
August 16, 2017
Virginia's Beach's Pleasure House Brewing and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have teamed up to brew a one-of-a-kind beer using rainwater collected at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center.
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Stewards of the Earth
May 18, 2017
Second Baptist Church of South Richmond has a Mission to Feed the Community and Protect Local Waterways.
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90-Year-Old Volunteer to Save the Bay
March 28, 2017
Though Walter Zadan recently celebrated his 90th birthday, the Williamsburg resident keeps up a schedule that is unusual for a nonagenarian.
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Speaking up for Clean Water
February 15, 2017
Just eleven years after Captain John Smith led the original exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, the Western Hemisphere's oldest legislative body was founded when Virginia's House of Burgesses met in 1619.
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Slowing the Flow: Miles of Streams Renewed in Fairfax County
January 17, 2017
Given that more than one million people call Fairfax County home, there are plenty of homes, roads, and parking lots in this suburban Northern Virginia county.
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Slowing the Flow: Fixing Flooding with Gardens and Wetlands
October 5, 2016
The three houses probably should never have been built on the low swampy ground in the James Terrace neighborhood in Williamsburg.
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Slowing the Flow: A Pioneering Parking Lot
September 7, 2016
A parking lot isn't usually something to get excited about. But believe it or not, the Ashland Police Department's new lot is pretty innovative when it comes to fighting pollution.
