Handbook for Restoring Tidal Wetlands (Marine Science) [Hardcover]

Joy B. Zedler (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 084939063X | ISBN-13: 978-0849390630 | Publication Date: August 30, 2000 | Edition: 1

Efforts to direct the recovery of damaged sites and landscape date back as far as the 1930s. If we fully understood the conditions and controlling variables at restoration sites, we would be better equipped to predict the outcomes of restoration efforts. If there were no constraints, we could merely plant the restoration site and walk away. However, the development of restoration theory has not yet lead to predictability.

The Handbook for Restoring Tidal Wetlands fills an important gap in current restoration ecology literature. It provides a broad-based compilation of case studies and principles to guide the management of tidal restoration sites. Thoroughly illustrated with more than 170 figures and tables, the book covers a full range of topics including:

the conceptual planning for coastal wetlands restoration

strategies for the manipulation of hydrology and soils

the reestablishment of vegetation and assemblages of fishes and invertebrates

the process of assessing, monitoring, and sustaining restored wetlands

Combining detailed examples from coastal research studies along the Pacific coast of southern California with information drawn from the literature on coastal restoration across the globe, the Handbook for Restoring Tidal Wetlands is a must-have guide if you are involved in coastal mitigation and restoration projects.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: CRC Press; 1 edition (August 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084939063X
• ISBN-13: 978-0849390630
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,335,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical book will be useful to restoration practitioners, January 17, 2001

By 

Kirk Barrett (Montclair, New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handbook for Restoring Tidal Wetlands (Marine Science) (Hardcover)

Review of Handbook for Restoring Tidal Wetlands, J. B. Zedler, editor, CRC Press, 2000, 439 pp.

Reviewed by Kirk R. Barrett, Ph.D., P. E., P.W.S., Research Director Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI) Rutgers University CIMIC, Newark, New Jersey http://cimic.rutgers.edu/meri

This book helps fill a large gap in the wetland restoration literature. Although there are many articles on the subject there are few handbook-like treatments of wetland restoration and apparently no others specific to tidal wetlands. Given this fact alone, this book is certainly valuable to its intended audience of planners, practitioners, resource managers and students.

The book contains chapters by 6 different authors on hydrology and substrate, establishing vegetation, restoring invertebrates and fish communities, assessment and monitoring, and identifying and solving management problems; each chapter ends with its own thorough, up-to-date reference lists. In these chapters, the book lives up to its title of a handbook, providing specific, real-world, how-to (or how-not-to) advice. For example, very practical and helpful is the ordered list of issues to consider when designing hydrology and geomorphology. Also useful is a discussion of what methods of establishing vegetation (e. g., seeding) did and did not work in particular cases, and why.

Despite the numerous authors, the book holds together as a coherent, comprehensive treatment, rather than a collection of loosely related chapters. However, there are 25 "boxes" which are stand-alone vignettes on different topics, akin to what one would find at a "poster session" at a conference

I was disappointed when I learned that the book was heavily focused on southern California (all of the authors are or were associated with Pacific Estuarine Research Lab based at San Diego State University). All of the case studies are focused on this region, as are the 6 appendices comprising about 60 pages containing species lists and the like and, as such, are likely to be little use for those of us interested other areas. Over 60 plates contain wonderful pencil drawings of salt marsh biota. Unfortunately, the plates are not indexed nor integrated with the text, limiting their usefulness.

A major limitation of the book is its lack of information on costs. Also lacking is a discussion of special construction techniques appropriate for marsh restoration. Finally, I wish the book contained a systematic assessment including a statistical summary of the success of a significant number of salt-marsh restorations, but perhaps that is beyond the scope of a handbook. Perhaps these can be included in the next edition, along with a list of addresses for useful Worldwide Web sites.

Despite a few shortcomings, the book should be quite valuable to its intended audience by allowing them to learn from the experience of others. Indeed, before you invest ten or hundreds of thousands of dollars to design, build, monitor or manage a tidal wetland, invest $90 and a few hours to buy and read this book.

Note: The author of this review retains the right to distribute, to publish, assign rights to publish this review elsewhere.