An expert on invasive species in marine waters will give the first lecture this year in the 2006-2007 Mark D. Gould Memorial Lecture Series sponsored by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey.

Marine scientist James Carlton will give a talk titled "History, Science & Policy" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, at the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island's Kingston Campus.

Carlton does research on the invasion of marine ecosystems by exotic species that are dispersed through global trade. Rhode Island is considered vulnerable to marine invaders because of their ability to damage Narragansett Bay.

Before Carlton's presentation, the survey will have its 12th annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. Executive Director David Gregg and President Peter Paton will discuss the survey's successes in stewardship of conservation land, environmental data management, educational outreach and organizational sustainability.

At the meeting the survey will unveil a new Web site called the Rhode Island Biodiversity Center. It will provide a discussion forum for topics related to natural history, tools for learning about invasive species that threaten Rhode Island's natural environment, and tools to submit personal observations of animals, plants and natural habitats.

Gregg says the Web site is an effort to find innovative ways to get more people engaged in the survey's mission to document and preserve Rhode Island's biodiversity.

Between the meeting and the lecture there will be the survey's first sale of used books on natural history topics with the proceeds benefiting the survey.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available. For information and directions, call (401) 874-5800, write to programadmin@rinhs.org or go to www.rinhs.org.

Volunteer oyster counters needed Volunteers are being sought for several upcoming Saturdays to help count and measure juvenile oysters as part of a major shellfish restoration project stemming from the North Cape oil spill.

The work will be done from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 30, Oct. 14 and Oct. 21 at the state Department of Environmental Management's Coastal Fisheries Laboratory in Jerusalem.

A full-day commitment is not required, but preregistration would be helpful. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

Work by volunteers last summer led to more than 1 million juvenile oysters to set on shells at the lab's oyster nursery. Now scientists need help to gather growth and survival information.

The work is being conducted by the state Department of Environmental Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For more information, or to register, call Lisa Cavallaro at (401) 782-3281 or write to Lisa.Cavallaro@noaa.gov.

URI offers program on composting First there were Master Gardeners. Now there are Master Composter/Recyclers. And if you're willing to invest five evenings and two Saturdays this fall, you can be one, too.

The University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation are launching the third edition of a training program for residents interested in becoming experts in composting and recycling.

The program is modeled after the long-standing Master Gardener program and similar programs around the country.

It begins Monday, Sept. 25, and will continue on five Mondays through Oct. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Southside Community Land Trust's Urbana Edge Farm in western Cranston.

Two sessions also will be scheduled on Saturdays for visits to the state's Central Landfill in Johnston and Earthcare Farm, a commercial composting facility in Exeter.

More than 12 percent of what is sent to the landfill is organic material that could be composted, according to Marion Gold, director of URI's Cooperative Extension Education Center.

She says the training program could benefit the general public as well as municipal recycling coordinators, public works staff and local conservation commission members.

A fee of $50 covers classroom materials. For more information, or to register, call Tara Germond at (401) 874-4453 or send an e-mail to tara@uri.edu.

Storms and trees highlight workshop Municipal officials, tree wardens, consulting foresters, tree board members, volunteer tree group members and arborists are invited to an all-day workshop focusing on storms and trees.

"Storms Over the Urban Forest" is cosponsored by the state Department of Environmental Management's Division of Forest Environment, the Rhode Island Tree Council and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

The workshop will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick. A $50 registration fee includes lunch.

The workshop is intended to help communities prepare for natural disasters, respond appropriately, and to help urban forests recover from damage. Speakers will cover administrative and planning issues and tree care techniques that will help communities be better prepared when a storm strikes.

To register call the tree council at (401) 861-1995. For more information, call the DEM's Paul Dolan at (401) 647-3367.

Alliance conference makes stop at URI The Rhode Island Environmental Education Association is hosting the 40th Annual New England Environmental Education Alliance Conference Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 at the University of Rhode Island's W. Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich.

There are a variety of registration options ranging from one-day attendance to up to three nights in a heated cabin. Go to www.neeea.org/conference for more details.

Dayna Ayers Baumeister, cofounder of the Biomimicry Guild, will be the keynote speaker. She helps communities and companies consult nature to create products, processes and policies that are sustainable.

For more information, contact conference co-chairwoman Denise J. Poyer at (401) 539-9017.

Environmental Journal is a listing of brief news items about the actions of individuals, organizations and businesses that affect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the landscape that surrounds us. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact environment reporter Peter B. Lord at (401) 277-8036, by e-mail at plord@projo.com or by writing him, care of the Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.