EFLTV

EFLTV, the Estuary & Foreshore Learning Trust Volunteers, is a small coastal community group of trained neighbors caring for local estuaries, foreshores, marshes, mudflats, and tidepools. Its volunteers include fishers, retired teachers, students, boatbuilders, and gardeners who share a commitment to observing and documenting changes along the tidal edge. For nineteen seasons, they have carried out recurring field surveys, building a community record of coastal conditions and wildlife.

EFLTV’s programs include Tidepool Watch, with monthly surveys at six rocky-shore sites; Marsh Transects, which track vegetation, fiddler-crab burrows, and changes in open water; and the Shorebird Log, recording birds and nesting activity from April through October. Volunteers also maintain a species log and publish field notes and yearly summaries, sharing observations with local households. Records are kept in community binders and at the harbormaster’s office. New volunteers are welcomed each spring through introductions from current members, with training and a deliberately small annual cohort.