Sarah Kestner is a proud Baltimore native and nature lover. Growing up in a peninsula community, she spent her childhood wandering through the woods and marshes where she learned to fish, crab, compost and care for others. Sarah moved to the lower Gunpowder River two years ago and became a vocal advocate for Mother Nature almost immediately.
Her first leap as an environmentalist was creating protest signs for the Days Cove Rubble Landfill Public Hearing held in September 2025. Noteworthy messaging such as “Love Our Mother,” her works have been highlighted in numerous media outlets and assisted in spreading awareness on multiple issues occurring on the watershed. Sarah has a knack for puns, music, and messaging with purpose!
Sarah is the Chair of Gunpowder Bush Waterways Advocacy Group, established May 2025 and comprised of Bush & Gunpowder River community members who are interested in the Amtrak bridge reconstruction projects. The goal of this group is to encourage the Amtrak planning team to achieve a symbiotic relationship between demands of the railway, direct community’s interests, and consideration for the environment at large.
Identifying outreach gaps, Sarah’s goal is to help bridge neighbors towards effective participation by finding opportunities for those with limited time to still find ways to help their community. Ultimately, she is an advocate for a better world for ALL: people, planet, and creatures!
Sarah recently joined Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® for shoreline sample collection at Mariner Point Park and attended a skiff day where she learned how to collect water samples, perform water quality monitoring testing and returned to Marshy Point Nature Center to process data. “I was so thrilled to be a part of collecting the source data imperative to remediation planning; it made me feel like a scientist for the day and filled my heart to be doing my part!”
