Catherine Owen Koning is professor of environmental science and chair of the Division of Natural Sciences at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH. She has conducted research in wetland ecology, hydrology, and plant ecology in Maine, New Hampshire, California, and Wisconsin. Sharon M. Ashworth is an ecologist and writer based in Lawrence, Kansas. After years working in academia and for nonprofits, she now manages an Extension Master Gardener Program for Kansas State University Research and Extension.
What Koning and Ashworth have done is create a book that not only combines stories, but brings in science, law, history, and the future. What a wonderfully fun and educational book. From looking for the eggs of a butterfly under the leaves of sedges in wet meadows to rounding a corner and finding whooping cranes in marshes, to viewing old growth wooded swamps in New Hampshire, this book really achieves its goal: getting the public to see the wonders of wetlands as if they were actually in the field. --Ingeborg E. Hegemann, professional wetland scientist, senior vice president of the BCS Group, Worcester, Massachusetts Wading Right In is your personal guide to some of the most astounding, essential, fun, and endangered places in the world--areas you can probably find not far from your own backyard, but perhaps never appreciated or understood. Thanks to Koning and Ashworth's engaging stories, vivid descriptions, and professional expertise, my eyes opened anew to the wonder and power of wetlands. This book is not only a joy to read, but a clarion call to protect these vital areas. Wading Right In belongs in the hands of not only every naturalist and outdoorsperson, but every responsible citizen. --Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus Wading Right In explores the wondrous nature of wetlands through the rich and personal stories of scores of wetland scientists. Written for a lay reader, Koning and Ashworth's engaging prose is packed with information regarding the incredible diversity and amazing adaptations of wetland species. Anyone who reads this book will be compelled to wade into a nearby wetland to see it with new eyes. --Tom Wessels, author of Reading the Forested Landscape