Photo by Hillary Odom

Tonya Bonitatibus | Riverkeeper

A native Augustan and mother of two, Tonya has a vested interest in conserving our environment. “If we don’t protect it,” she says, “future generations will have serious health problems and may even run out of water.” Tonya, Development Director for Savannah Riverkeeper, Inc., works to ensure our waterways are clean and safe. She leads outreach programs and PR campaigns and trains volunteers for Adopt a Stream, Rivers Alive (cleaning trash from waterways) and Get The Dirt Out (monitoring construction sites). She also works with legislators to keep them abreast of important legislation and she pushes for bills to protect our water quality. Since January, Tonya has worked with Oceana on a campaign aimed to generate community support against Olin and encourage the local chlorine company to stop using mercury in production. “It’s toxic for children and pregnant women because it causes severe learning disabilities,” she says.

3 ONLINE EXTRAS ABOUT TONYA:

1. Tonya has a marketing degree from ASU. And she’s about a class shy of a biology degree.  

2. Tonya’s Rivers Alive program and its 300 volunteers have cleaned 12 tons of trash out of waterways, she’s gotten 1300 people engaged in activities on the Savannah River, and she’s stopped the flow of raw sewage into Rae’s Creek.

3. Tonya’s dog accompanies her to work everyday.