It's world wetlands day today and in Golden Bay it will be celebrated with a romp in the mud.

Tasman District Council environmental educator Claire Webster has organised an evening event at low tide to remove about 60 tyres from the Motupipi Estuary, which is a form of wetland.

"Estuaries are part of an evolution of lagoons and swamps and bogs and beaches," she said.

The tyres are thought to have been washed down into the estuary by the December floods just over a year ago.

"We don't know where they're from and nobody's responsible for them, so I've just organised this event to have public support for cleaning them up."

Golden Bay Forest & Bird and marine educator Richard de Hamel were helping organise it.

After a sausage sizzle, people could learn about estuaries then help retrieve the tyres.

"I suspect it's going to be quite hard, muddy work because they've settled for a year in the mud so we'll have to dig them out a bit and then drag them across the sand."

Ms Webster is encouraging people to bring snow toboggans or similar props to carry the tyres.

"Someone suggested they bring mussel buoys too . . . things we can put the tyres on to slide them over the mud, because carrying a tyre in the mud will be nigh-on impossible."

She said research indicated tyres could leach zinc, calcium and lead into waterways.

"There's no positive reason to leave them there."

- © Fairfax NZ News