Like rivers around the world, the Hudson — America’s First River and the Birthplace of the American Environmental Movement — boomed as a growing human population used it for transportation, sustenance and, for many years, a dumping ground.

The river paid a price for all this use and abuse, struggling against its share of contamination. For the past nearly three decades the river’s poet laureate and literal “eyes on the river,” Captain John, has been at the forefront of each of those fights, taking on industrial and human pollution, suffering the losses and celebrating victories.

While he has had successes on the Hudson, committing a life to protecting a river is a never-ending fight. This “Keeper’s” example continues to motivate and inspire; today there are more than 300 keepers who make up the global Waterkeeper Alliance.