Book Review

Turning the Tide
An estuary toolkit for New Zealand Communities

Throughout New Zealand community and school groups are more and more taking the initiative and showing a willingness to put time and effort into monitoring local fresh water and coastal environments. The methods for monitoring freshwater habitats are well understood but coastal monitoring can present special challenges especially when it comes to estuaries.

Working with the community of the Waikouiti estuary north of Dunedin over a number of years, Gretchen Robertson and Monica Peters (both with NZ Landcare Trust in Otago) trialled a draft kit of activities and methods that have led to the publication of Turning the Tide - An estuary toolkit for New Zealand communities. This practical and comprehensive guide is designed to be of value to any group who want to get involved in estuary monitoring. It shows how the existing knowledge of a community can be harnessed as a baseline for decision making and provides the tools for how to establish effective ecological monitoring activities.

The kit firstly establishes the importance of estuaries as habitats worth caring about and then outlines how a community might be mobilised to establish a monitoring program in their district.  The methods for such a program are then clearly described in workable ways without resort to expensive and complex analysis or testing. The result is an estuary ‘Warrant of Fitness’ check,  with further guidance for groups who want to take their program to the next level.  Finally the kit lists a wide range of educational resources, community case studies species descriptions and references.

For any Level 2 or 3 biology program Turning the Tide is a useful additional resource, especially for schools that use a local estuary as a source for field work opportunities. It will provide considerable assistance in identifying the key issues for estuary health and also provide practical suggestions for individual or group studies.

Turning the Tide can be purchased directly from Gretchen Robertson, NZ Landcare Trust, PO Box 6405, Dunedin. Price $25 (includes postage and packing).