Gil Newton will survey the marine plants and animals along the Cape shoreline, their ecology, and the diverse habitats in which they are found. The participants will learn about the local beaches, salt marshes, sand dunes, tide pools, and rocky areas. There is a fascinating diversity of life along the edge of the sea. Participants will be able to examine preserved samples of marine mollusks, crabs, echinoderms, horseshoe crabs, seaweeds, and other common species.

Gilbert Newton is a Cape Cod native who has been teaching environmental and marine science at Sandwich High School and the Cape Cod Community College for many years. His classes included coastal ecology, botany, coastal zone management, and environmental technology. In 2013 he became the first Director of the Sandwich STEM Academy. He completed his graduate work in biology at Florida State University. He has also taught classes for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the Falmouth Academy, Bridgewater State University and the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. He was also the Program Director for the Advanced Studies and Leadership Program at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for 14 years. Gil is one of the founders of the Barnstable Land Trust and is the past president of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. He is the author of several books about the Cape's shoreline including the recent Mysteries of Seaweed: Questions and Answers, Activities for the Cape Cod Beachcomber, Thinking Green on Cape Cod, and The Sandy Beach.