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A Wilderness Survival Course and more
- Residential Program

"The year was intensive, hands-on, and chock full of activities. I thoroughly enjoyed the classes, and have been amazed at how wonderful this wilderness course is. I can’t believe I ever doubted coming for the year." -Rich Kelley

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Wilderness Awareness School's Residential Program is a year-long wilderness course that provides in-depth training in a powerful set of nature and wilderness survival skills. These awaken a deep understanding and relationship with the natural world.

Our highly experienced instructors guide students in field studies ranging from wilderness survival skills to wildlife tracking techniques to wild edible plant preparations, based out of our beautiful campus in the Pacific Northwest. As our most comprehensive training course for adults, graduates come away with a strong foundation of knowledge and the ability to apply these outdoor skills in their professional and personal lives.

More than just a survival school or even a survival course, the Residential Program is an exciting, outdoor college-level course that consists of six fields of study that are interconnected and run concurrently throughout the school year:

The Skills of the Naturalist: Getting to Know Your Place
Get to know the flora, fauna, and ecology of the Pacific Northwest. In this component of the course students develop a rich understanding of plants, trees, mammals, and birds, as well as the identification, taxonomy, and natural history of North American species, coming away with the background necessary to succeed as a well-rounded naturalist.

The Science of Tracking: Interpreting Patterns of Life
Unravel the mysteries of tracks and sign left behind by wildlife. This part of the course is designed to give students a holistic grounding in the art and science of animal tracking. Emphasis is placed on the development of accurate track and sign identification and interpretation skills, as well as applications of tracking in biological research.

Working with Wild Plants: Ethnobotany and Stewardship
Gather and prepare wild plants to use for food, medicine, and tools. This aspect of the course is a hands-on study of the diverse uses of native plants and trees. Students learn field identification, edible/medicinal preparations, and plant technologies. The course also covers modern and indigenous principles of forest stewardship, permaculture, and restoration.

Natural Mentoring: Nature-Based Models of Education
Learn Wilderness Awareness School's unique educational model and mentoring techniques for children and nature. This part of the course teaches students the principles of our nature-based approach to education and community development. Students come away with the knowledge and experience necessary for being an effective outdoor instructor, leader, and mentor for kids and adults.

Wilderness Survival Skills: Technologies of the Hunter-Gatherer
Practice skills that can save your life. This component of the course engages students in the practice of indigenous wilderness survival skills, including the key elements needed for survival in the outdoors unaided by modern tools. Students learn to build shelters from natural materials, locate and purify water, create fire from friction, and master wilderness survival skills.

Nature Observation: Bird Sounds Interpretation and Sensory Awareness
Develop the awareness of a wild animal. This aspect of the course focuses on nature awareness skills. Students practice activities that build greater sensory acuity, train the body to move gracefully and silently in the forest, and cultivate the ability to interpret predator disturbance patterns displayed in bird sounds and behaviors (bird language).

While we distinguish between these six fields of study, the true power of the Residential Program lies in the integration of these subjects in an immersion experience. As students study all six of these areas of knowledge in concert, they develop a truly holistic sense of place within the natural world, as well as a greater understanding of their role in their community, and a clearer awareness of their own passions and vision for their lives.

As important as what you learn at the Residential Program is the way in which you learn it. A primary educational principle at Wilderness Awareness School is that hands-on, field-based experience leads to the deepest learning.

We balance the presentation of information in lecture with important activities, exercises, and challenges that allow students to gain the authentic knowledge that comes from their own personal firsthand experiences.

Some survival schools emphasize the “struggle” of humans vs. nature and focus on “toughening up” students. The Residential Program is perhaps unique as a survival school or wilderness survival course. It blends the hard skills necessary to journey into nature without modern gear, with the naturalist knowledge to feel at home wherever you venture.

Residential Program students also become part of a large learning community that encompasses Wilderness Awareness School. Through this community, students develop lifelong friendships and are supported in their nature studies.

This larger community consists of fellow students in our other intensive courses; a range of staff, both instructors and administrators, who visit and support this wilderness course in various capacities; a council of elders available to provide guidance; apprentices, volunteers, and past graduates; as well as independent community groups.

The Wilderness Awareness Residential Program helps people develop a deep and intimate relationship with the natural world. This life changing wilderness experience is the result of our unique understanding of how we can reconnect with the legacy of indigenous cultures and our natural heritage as human beings.

As Ingwe, the grandfather and co-founder of Wilderness Awareness School, never tired of saying "The Wilderness holds all truth and knowledge." In a time when our modern world is moving on an increasingly technological track, these words remind us of how critical it is to maintain a connection with the natural world.

At the Residential Program, you will develop the eyes, the ears, and the awareness with which to help our culture move forward into the future in a healthy and sustainable way.

Instructors:

Core Instructors

With over five decades of combined experience teaching nature skills, the Residential Program's core instructors facilitate all aspects of the course, teaching, coordinating guests and field trips, and serving as mentors to the student body.

Chris Laliberte, Core Instructor: Chris has worked in the field of outdoor education since 1992, designing and leading courses that incorporate wilderness adventure and natural history. Chris has a strong working knowledge and expertise in wilderness survival skills and nature-based mentoring. In 1996 he founded Wilderness Awareness School's Community School, a highly successful wilderness course for teens. He has a Master's Degree in Environmental Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Mythological Studies. Chris also enjoys storytelling, poetry, music, and studying internal martial arts.

Angie Jordan , Core Instructor,moved to the Evergreen State in 2000 and is a 2001 Residential Program graduate. She is in her 6th year as core instructor for the Residential Program, and loves working with students as they journey through the many levels of awareness gained through learning the skills of the naturalist! She herself is especially passionate about plant fibers, basketry, and the primitive living side of survival skills, but is also quite excited about animal print and sign tracking, and is newly interested in the restorative practices of Permaculture. Angie has a BA in liberal arts and worked in youth camps throughout Michigan and Wisconsin before discovering the power and magic of mentoring in the model used by Wilderness Awareness School.

Alexia Stevens, Core Instructor, is a 2002 Residential Program graduate, and a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. In addition to instructing at the Residential Program, Alexia serves as a staff specialist for Wilderness Awareness School's adult courses, and as a Kamana instructor. She has worked as a bird biologist in the North Cascades and Olympic National Parks, and has a degree in Environmental Science with a concentration on bird behavior and communication. In her spare time, Alexia stays busy riding her Bashkir Curly horse, listening to birds, playing the tin whistle, spinning yarns (literally and figuratively), and is recording an audio guide to bird sounds and behavior.

Marcus Reynerson, Core Instructor: Marcus has been working in outdoor and experiential education since 2000 leading backpacking trips and developing conservation courses for teens, and facilitating environmental ed courses for elementary school students. In 2000, he completed a semester with the National Outdoor Leadership School before earning a degree in Environmental Studies from Miami University in Oxford, OH. He is a 2006 graduate of the Residential Program, and served as the apprentice to the course for 2006-07. Marcus is also a graduate of the Tracking Intensive and was certified as a Level 2 Track and Sign Interpreter through Cybertracker Conservation. Marcus enjoys playing guitar, traveling, college basketball, backpacking, sitting around a fire with friends, life near the ocean, and tends to be fond of any music with a good twang. He is currently learning to play banjo and working to complete Kamana.

Staff Specialists

Additional Wilderness Awareness School instructors teach as staff specialists at the Residential Program, sharing their knowledge in specific topics over the course of the year.

John Gallagher, Staff Specialist: John shares his knowledge and experience with wild edible and medicinal plants. He has worked for Wilderness Awareness School since 1991 and is a a licensed Five Element Acupuncturist, a Community Centered Herbalist, and runs LearningHerbs with his wife Kimberly. John was the director of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program for 11 years and he currently manages Wilderness Awareness School's new content websites, NatureSkills.com and NatureTalk.net.

John Chilkotowsky, Staff Specialist: John offers his wisdom in youth instruction and wilderness course development. He has been an educator since 1995, teaching and designing wilderness courses in public schools, environmental education centers, and at primitive skills camps. John has a Bachelor of Science degree, has completed survival courses with several survival schools across the country, is a Kamana Naturalist Training Program graduate, and serves as the Program Director at Wilderness Awareness School.

Laura Gunion, Staff Specialist: Laura shares her knowledge and skills with natural mentoring. She is also Assistant Director of Youth Courses, and an Instructor at Community School. She began her work for Wilderness Awareness School after completing the Residential Program in 2002. She has enjoyed teaching at nature camps, leading expeditions, and creating rite of passage courses for children and teens at other outdoor education organizations for 10 years before coming to Wilderness Awareness School. Laura also completed the National Outdoor Leadership School's Semester in the Rockies in 1996.

Dan Corcoran, Staff Specialist: Dan shares his passion and experience with wilderness survival skills and naturalist studies. He also serves as the Director of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and as an instructor with Youth and Adult Programs at Wilderness Awareness School. Dan also designs and instructs at many of our most popular survival courses. Dan received his B.S. in Biology from Indiana University, is a 2003 graduate of the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program, a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and a Wilderness First Responder.

David Moskowitz, Staff Specialist: Dave shares his knowledge and experience with wildlife tracking, outdoor education, and wilderness survival skills. Dave also serves as lead Tracking Programs Instructor and Special Programs Coordinator. He joined Wilderness Awareness School in 2005, bringing with him over a decade of experience with wildlife tracking, and in teaching outdoor and environmental education throughout the United States including at Outward Bound, Rites of Passage Journeys, and the Northwest Outdoors Science School. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Outdoor Adventure Education from Prescott College.

Mike Prince, Staff Specialist: Mike shares his passion and experience with youth mentoring. He is also the coordinator of the Earth Mentor Program, a Youth Courses Instructor, and Facility Manager for Wilderness Awareness School. Mike graduated from the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program in 2004, and followed that with a second year as a Apprentice Instructor with Community School. Mike's previous experience as an educator includes teaching High School, directing a Boy Scout Camp, and working for the YMCA.

Guest Instructors

The Residential Program also incorporates expert guest instructors that visit the course to offer their unique perspective on special skills and topics:

Karen and Frank Sherwood, Guest Instructors: Frank and Karen were Senior Instructors at Tom Brown, Jr.'s Tracking and Survival School for 15 years before starting their own school, Earthwalk Northwest. Karen specializes in ethnobotany, uses of wild edible and medicinal plants, basketry, and other wilderness living skills, while Frank works with us on flintknapping, braintanning, and fishing technologies, and other wilderness survival skills. Together, they carry a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in living with the land, and we are blessed to be able to work with them each year. Earthwalk Northwest also offers a remarkable array of survival courses in all of these topics throughout the year that would be of great interest to students and graduates.

Jon Young, Guest Instructor: Jon offers inspiration and unique insight into the realm of nature education and tracking. Jon Young founded Wilderness Awareness School in 1983. Inspired by his childhood mentoring with tracker and author Tom Brown, Jr., Jon has pioneered blending Native mentoring techniques from around the world with the tools of modern field ecology. Under Jon's guidance, Wilderness Awareness School has grown to reach students all around the world with its courses that help people reconnect with their native environments. Jon is the principal author of The Kamana Naturalist Training Program.

Chris Kenworthy, Guest Instructor: Chris shares her passion and knowledge of nature awareness and native scout skills. She is the director of Coyotes Path Wilderness School which she founded in 1994. Chris trained extensively at Tom Brown, Jr.'s Tracking and Survival School and has led wilderness courses for many years. She has been running the Scout Class, an intensive week of training in nature observation and awareness, for the past decade on her land in the foothills of the North Cascades. Chris shares a love and knowledge of nature that inspires her to pass this on to others.

Residential Program at a Glance:

• Location: Based out of our campus in Duvall, WA with field trips to locations further afield in the Northwest.
  
  
• Duration: School-year schedule. Meets Wed., Thurs. and Friday with several extended trips during 30 weeks between September and June.
  
  
• Facilities: Wilderness Awareness School's campus, which includes multiple classrooms on 20 acres of forested land adjacent to the vast wilderness of the Cascades.
  
  
• Instructors: Core instructors, Chris Laliberte, Angie Jordan, Alexia Stevens, and Marcus Reynerson, as well as staff specialists and guest instructors.
  
  
• Credit: 18 transferable undergraduate credits through Western State College.
  
  
• Enrollment: Class size ranges from 20 to 36 students.
  
  
• Tuition: $9850. Scholarships are available. We are also now able to offer Financial Aid funding in the form of SLM Financial Career Training Loans, as well as VA tuition benefits for veterans!
  
  
• Housing: Limited on-campus housing. Many students rent homes nearby.

Applying/More Information

To apply, please visit our application page.

If you would like more information, see our Residential Program Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have additional questions or would like a color brochure and free DVD about the Residential Program by mail, please use our quick request form.

Residential Program FAQ Application Video

Testimonials College Credit Alumni Student Profiles

Second Year Options Blog Request info