Shoreline Education for Awareness will present the third seminar in its winter series of environmental interpretive programs on Saturday. The event will be held at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology Boathouse Auditorium on Boat Basin Drive in Charleston.

The morning session will be presented by Dr. Alan Shanks, an OIMB professor, who will clarify some of the mysteries of the ocean, its behavior and some of the critters that live in it.

Dr. Shanks received his doctoral degree in marine biology in 1985 from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego. He has written many scientific abstracts and articles.

The afternoon session will be shared by Katia Sowers and Jeannie McCurdy, both of Shoreline Education, who will discuss “Interpretive Skills.”

Sowers has a master's degree from Southern Oregon University in biology and environmental education and was with South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve for two years. Prior to coming to Bandon, she was education outreach specialist for the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership.

McCurdy will address the logistics of being a docent, explaining about the equipment, where and how it is stored and used as well as the simple records to be kept. She sets up the interpretive schedule for the months of April through early September at Coquille Point and Simpson Reef. Her primary job is to fill 79 shifts with two docents each shift.

Registration and lunch orders ($6 per person or self-catered) will be taken starting at 8:30 a.m. The seminar is scheduled to start at 9 a.m., beginning with registration and lunch. Seminars are $5 per person (free for members). There is no parking at the Boathouse. Parking is available before reaching the U.S. Coast Guard residence building or at the parking lot across from the OIMB campus sign.