About Tim
Tim graduated from the University of Maryland in 1973 and completed his law studies at Georgetown University Law Center in 1977. Tim practiced trial law for 30 years in the DC area and taught classes on justice and law at American University, Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard University Law School, and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. During that time he wrote three books.
In 2008 Tim returned to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, from where he had graduated high school, and founded a river-protection non-profit organization: Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy. The organization merged with two other Riverkeeper programs to become ShoreRivers and presently employs a large team of accomplished professionals devoted to restoring and protecting the rivers of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For his role in founding and leading Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Tim received the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s 2017 Ellen Fraites Wagner Award for Outstanding Environmental Service (more below).
Tim retired in 2018 and recently took up oil painting. He lives on the Wye River with his wife and two dogs, drawing inspiration for his paintings from the ever changing colors of the river and surrounding landscape.
Chesapeake Bay Trust 2017 Award for Outstanding Environmental Service
From the Trust’s website:
2017 Ellen Fraites Wagner Award: Timothy D. Junkin
Founder, Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Talbot County
Ellen Fraites Wagner, a colleague of Governor Harry Hughes, helped establish the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and this award, named in her honor, recognizes a natural resources leader who works or volunteers to motivate and inspire others by promoting environmental awareness. This description perfectly fits Tim Junkin. Tim is the founder of the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy (MRC) and served as executive director for its first seven years. Tim Junkin left a successful career as a Washington, DC, lawyer and author, to return to his boyhood home of Easton to work on river and bay restoration issues. He realized the Choptank, the largest river feeding the Chesapeake Bay from the Eastern Shore and one of the most impaired in the state, needed help. That first year, he inspired enough financial support to establish an office, hire a full time Choptank Riverkeeper, refurbish an old workboat to patrol the river, and begin to build the organization. He worked tirelessly, speaking to every public gathering that would listen, writing countless articles for newspapers, magazines, and newsletters, and devoting himself to educating the Eastern Shore communities about water pollution issues. In the following years, Tim expanded MRC’s mission to include a Miles and Wye program; doubled twice the staff size, providing jobs; and developed a membership of thousands. The success of his organization is a testament to his ability to inspire others.