Montana New Zealand Book Awards - Environment - 2008 finalists

The Montana New Zealand Book Awards were organised and administrated by Booksellers New Zealand, the trade association for booksellers and publishers until 2009.

Wetlands of New Zealand Winner

Janet Hunt (Random House NZ)
Wetlands are the unheralded gems of the New Zealand landscape. Seriously endangered and taken for granted by New Zealanders, they are often stunning environments and harbour all manner of beautiful and rare flora and fauna. This beautiful, environmentally important book describes what wetlands do, what we find in wetlands - plants, aquatic life, birds and animals - and it also looks at the conservation and restoration of wetlands. Examining the different kinds of wetlands - peatlands, wetlands for waders, coastal wtlands, urban wetlands, upland and geothermal wetlands and rivers - it also focuses on the internationally renowned wetlands known as the Ramsar convention wetlands: Firth of Thames, Kopuatai Peat Dome, Whangamarino, Farewell Spit, Waituna Lagoon, and the Manawatu estuary.

Southern Alps

Alison Ballance (Random House NZ)
Follow the path of an icicle, unravel the complexity of an alpine garden, become part of the birth and death of a stand of beech tress and wonder at early efforts to explore, cross and climb the backbone of the country the Southern Alps. This literary and photographic exploration reveals intimate insights alongside the vastness of our most phenomenal landform.

The Surface of the Sea: Encounters with New Zealand's Upper Ocean Life

Iain Anderson (Raupo Publishing)
In this book, Iain Anderson studies, photographs and explains how, why and what exists within the top strata of the ocean surrounding New Zealand; the complex relationships different species have with each others and how these animals survive the vagaries of their place on the food chain. The author's unique approach to the species studied leads him to explain and set out his book using terminology that lay readers can understand.