Captain Bill Sheehan (NJ), founder and executive director of the Hackensack Riverkeeper, is widely credited with the resurrection of New Jersey’s Hackensack River and the Meadowlands Estuary. Bill was born and raised in New Jersey and has lived his entire life next to the Hackensack River. He received his Coast Guard “Captain” accreditation in order to take people on the river and into the estuary, allowing the waterway to speak for itself. Over 5,000 people experienced the Hackensack this way in 2003.