WELLS — On Wednesday, July 23 from 6-7:30 p.m., Wells Reserve at Laudholm will offer a program on “From Moody to Goose Rocks: Laws and Lessons.”

Participants will explore the evolving laws surrounding public access and private ownership of Maine’s shoreline with professor and attorney John Duff, and Stephanie Showalter Otts, director of the National Sea Grant Law Center. Duff and Otts will present the first in a series of talks on this theme in Mather Auditorium at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm.

Twenty-five years ago, the Maine Supreme Court decided the public has very limited rights to use privately owned land in the intertidal zone ”“ the land between high and low tides. Duff will explain how rulings in Moody Beach and other cases affect ownership and public use. Otts will contrast Maine’s laws and customs to shoreline ownership and access laws in other states.

Duff is an associate professor of environmental law and policy at UMass-Boston’s School for the Environment. Duff earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston and his LLM from the Law and Marine Affairs Program at the University of Washington. He also holds degrees in business from the University of Lowell and a master’s in journalism from the University of Mississippi.

Otts is director of the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Penn State University and a joint law and master’s degree in environmental law from Vermont Law School.

There is a suggested donation, and reservations are required. Wells Reserve is located at Laudholm Farm Road in Wells.

For more information, call 646-1555 or visit wellsreserve.