All those with a curiosity about the natural history of the Oregon coast are invited to this year’s CoastWatch Shoreline Science Workshop, to be held July 8-10 at the Depoe Bay Community Hall (220 S.E. Bay Street). Online registration is open: https://oregonshores.givezooks.com/events/2016-coastwatch-shoreline-science-workshop. The workshop will be led by ecologist Stewart Schultz, author of “The Northwest Coast: A Natural History.” Three full days of instruction cover rocky shore, beach and estuarine habitats in depth, and touch on forests, the nearshore ocean, marine mammals, tides and oceanography, and many other topics. Matters of concern such as marine debris and invasive species will also be discussed. Each session will include field trips, indoor presentations and laboratory experiences (with some variation, depending on the weather). Stewart Schultz’ wide-ranging experience in studying the Oregon coast makes him a very knowledgeable guide to the shoreline environment. An Oregonian who grew up playing on the shore near Gearhart, he went to Reed College and obtained his doctorate in botany from the University of British Columbia . He worked on the Oregon coast for the Nature Conservancy, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, gaining extensive field experience, before pursuing an academic career as a professor at the University of Miami, and now the University of Zadar in Croatia. During the academic year he studies marine ecology, as well as his specialty of plant evolution and genetics, but every summer he returns to the Oregon coast to teach shoreline science. Fawn Custer, CoastWatch’s volunteer coordinator and herself an experienced marine educator, will assist Schultz and introduce participants to a variety of opportunities to participate in citizen science. Teachers and other professionals can obtain professional development units by attending the workshop. CoastWatch is the volunteer program of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, through which participants adopt one-mile segments of shoreline and monitor them for natural changes and human impacts. These annual workshops were originally developed as intensive training sessions for CoastWatch volunteers, but they are also open to members of the general public. If you would like to reserve a place, but don’t wish to do so online, contact Fawn Custer at (541) 270-0027, fawn@oregonshores.org. She can hold a place for you and arrange with you to pay the workshop fee by check. CoastWatch has offered three such workshops every summer for many years. Schedule constraints limited the group to the one workshop this year, but the plan is to resume holding three next year. For more information about the workshop or CoastWatch, go to the website, http://oregonshores.org/coastwatch.php5.
