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Wildlife Tracking Intensive

"My animal track and sign skills have improved in leaps and bounds this year...and it's a unique delight to be able to wander the landscape with a group of people just as excited as I am about scat, chews, and other signs of wild creatures that are invisible or unintelligible to most of my other friends."
-Roy Ashton

How do you become a skilled tracker?

The Wildlife Tracking Intensive provides in-depth training in the art and science of wildlife tracking for both beginner and advanced students. Visiting a diversity of habitats from the coastal dunes of Oregon to the high deserts of eastern Washington, participants have the opportunity to study and track a great variety of wildlife species.

From snow tracking elusive lynx, bobcat, and cougar in the Cascade Mountains to trailing mink, otter, and bear along riparian sandbars in the Puget Sound, this wildlife tracking course is packed with adventure, challenge, and quality instruction.

Based on Wilderness Awareness School's Six Arts of Tracking curriculum, this rigorous course trains participants in the many components of animal tracking including:

• Identification of animal track and sign for keying out species and individuals
• Interpretation of gaits and other behaviors from track patterns
• Aging and event sequencing to place activities in time
• Ecological tracking to enable you to predict wildlife activity
• Trailing and backtracking procedures for finding animals
• Observation techniques that help you locate and see more wildlife

Facilitated by highly experienced trackers, David Moskowitz, and Marcus Reynerson, the Wildlife Tracking Intensive meets for ten field-based weekends between September and June and utilizes many of the best tracking locations in the Pacific Northwest as our classroom.

Small class size allows us to develop a strong sense of community and camaraderie, and accelerates the learning process. While wildlife tracking is the focus of the course, an overview of human tracking applications is covered as well.

What Graduates Will Learn

Graduates of this tracking course will come away with:

• Strong technical skills in the art and science of wildlife tracking
• A greater knowledge of place and ability to read the landscape
• Experience with the scientific, educational, and recreational applications of tracking

The Wildlife Tracking Intensive is designed to allow people with busy lives to participate.
Each of the ten weekends begins on Saturday morning, and concludes in the mid afternoon on Sunday, including an evening session on Saturday night. About half of the weekends take place in the Puget Sound region of Washington State, while the rest occur in various locations throughout Washington and Oregon.

Through informative presentations, field exercises, and guided independent study, participants in the Wildlife Tracking Intensive gain a unique combination of field experience and technical skills.

Guest instructors, well known experts in the field of tracking, join one of the weekends in each of the fall, winter, and spring seasons to complement the depth of this training and expose students to various applications of tracking skills. See guest instructors biographies below.

To meet the needs of both beginning and advanced students, the Wildlife Tracking Intensive has two distinct paths of study that run concurrently. Each path is geared towards the different experience levels and although both sections of the class share field locations, instructors frequently guide each group in different lectures and activities.

Wildlife Tracking Intensive Primary Path of Study

The primary path of study covers animal tracking fundamentals and essentials and is designed for students with little or no previous tracking experience.

This level is ideal for those who are new to the field of tracking or have previously participated in a weekend or weeklong tracking class. Covering a broad range of skills and applications, you will develop a strong foundation and thorough base of knowledge in tracking.

Some focus topics covered in the primary path include:

• Essential tracking terminology to build your vocabulary and understanding
• Overview of the Six Arts of Tracking to give you a holistic view of the field
• Clear print identification for accurate species determinations
• Gait interpretation for distinguishing speed and direction
• Track aging, effects of weather, and substrate study to answer the question "when?"
• Larders and lacks, understanding seasonal food sources and shelter requirements
• Track by track trailing and tracking sticks to train your eyes to see subtle signs
• Taxonomy and natural history of mammals to understand biological influences
• Journaling techniques that build your visual search images

Wildlife Tracking Intensive Advanced Path of Study

The advanced path is designed for students who have a significant amount of previous tracking experience. The advanced path is open to second year students in the tracking intensive, or students with comparable skill/experience (determined during the first
weekend of the class).

This path begins with a review of intermediate skills and then focuses on highly technical aspects of tracking.

Some focus topics covered in the advanced path include:

• Technical tracking terminology used in advanced resources
• Animal track morphology to determine sex, age, and individuals
• Differentiating tracks of difficult species, including small mammals and birds
• Interpreting dominance, health, and various behaviors from distinctive characteristics
• Scientific documentation methods for biological research
• Predicting wildlife activity and concentrations using topographic maps and aerial photos
• Bone identification and carcass analysis for determining cause and time of death
• Efficient trailing techniques for quickly locating humans and wildlife
• Event sequencing for complex tracking scenarios

Independent Research Projects

Each participant in the Advanced path develops a research project which will be carried out throughout the class year under the guidance of one of the core staff for the Tracking Intensive. Projects from this year’s students include naturalist, scientific, educational, and artistic focuses. Students have the opportunity to blend their projects with ongoing research projects such as the Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project.

Field Evaluation

Near the conclusion of the year, students from both the primary and advanced paths have the opportunity to have their skill level evaluated in a rigorous field test.

For students in the advanced path, this evaluation will be performed by CyberTracker International (space is also available for interested students in the Primary Path).

The purpose of this wildlife tracking evaluation is for you to be able to recognize and celebrate your growth, know your strengths and weaknesses, and bring greater credibility to your tracking skills. Evaluation is a common method utilized to certify competent practitioners within a field to establish credibility and aid in gaining employment.

As trackers become more involved in wildlife monitoring and research, it is important to test and certify observer reliability.

Wilderness Awareness School's Wildlife Tracking Intensive is pleased to be hosting a CyberTracker Conservation Tracker Evaluation facilitated by Casey McFarland.

CyberTracker Conservation Tracker Evaluations stand on their own outside every school and every curriculum, and thus evaluations are open to anyone with interest. For more information on the CyberTracker Conservation Tracker Evaluation visit CyberTracker.org and WildlifeTrackers.com.

Graduates

Graduates of this tracking course receive a certificate of completion and come away with a skill set equally applicable in wildlife sciences, environmental education, or personal exploration in the natural world. After a year in the Tracking Intensive you will certainly never look at the ground the same way again.

The Tracking Intensive at a Glance

Tuition: $2750; includes all instruction and course materials. Tuition includes a $650 non-refundable deposit to secure your enrollment in the course, and then the balance is due in 3 quarterly payments of $700. Scholarships are available.

Duration: Ten weekends (one weekend each month from September to June). 2009-2010 dates: Sept 5-6; Oct 3-5 (three day weekend); Nov 7-8; Dec 5-6; Jan 23-24; Feb 27-28; March 27-28; April 24-26 (three day weekend); May 22-23; June: Cybertracker evaluation dates TBA (paid for separately, not included in the cost of the Tracking Intensive).

Location: Pacific Northwest, 50% at various sites within the Puget Sound region of Washington State, 50% at locations further afield in Washington and Oregon.

Enrollment: Limited to 16 participants total between primary and advanced paths of study.

Instructors: David Moskowitz, and Marcus Reynerson, as well as guest instructors Rob Speiden, Dave Scott, Brian McConnell, and Robert Bicknell. See biographies below.

Intensive Studies Student Discount: To honor your contributions to our learning community and encourage continuing education, the Retail Sales Department offers intensive studies students an ongoing discount of 10% on the comprehensive selection of nature books and gifts in our on-line store. Students receive instructions for ordering with this discount upon enrolling.

To Register

Call the office at 425-788-1301 to register and secure your deposit. In previous years the course has filled with a waiting list, so be sure to register early!

NOTE: If you plan to apply for a scholarship, please submit a scholarship application along when you register for the Tracking Intensive (download a Scholarship Application in PDF format, complete it and mail it in).

For More Information

If you have additional questions about the Wildlife Tracking Intensive, or would like a color brochure about the course, please use our info request form.

Instructor Biographies

David Moskowitz is our lead Wildlife Tracking Programs Instructor and the project manager for the Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project. He joined Wilderness Awareness School in 2005, bringing with him over a decade of experience teaching outdoor and environmental education throughout the United States including at Outward Bound and the North Cascades Institute. David is a skilled field researcher and has been involved with forest carnivore research and wildlife monitoring in the Cascades for many years as well as avian research in the Puget Sound area.

He holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Studies through Prescott College with an emphasis on Field Ecology and Wildlife Tracking. David is an active member of the International Society of Professional Trackers and has given many talks and presentations on wildlife and tracking based on his years of field work and teaching. He holds professional certifications in wildlife tracking, wilderness medicine, avalanche safety and sits on the Board of Directors for Rite of Passage Journeys where he is the chairman of the Safety Committee. His writings on wilderness skills, environmental education, natural history and tracking have appeared in numerous regional and national publications including Green Teacher, Wilderness Way, and the Wilderness Education Association Journal. Along with tracking wild animals, mountaineering, environmental activism and photography are several of his passions.

Marcus Reynerson serves as a core instructor at the Anake Outdoor School. He has lived close to the natural world throughout his life and some of his earliest memories include hunting and fishing in the muggy marshes and pine forests of south Louisiana. Thanks to a childhood of outdoor recreation, Marcus got an early start working in the environmental education field. After leading youth on backpacking trips during college, he earned a degree in Environmental Studies from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Marcus went on to serve as a conservation programs director for Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico and then as a lead naturalist at an outdoor education center in Southern California. He was drawn to Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, to attend the Residential Program in 2005 and followed up with a second year as an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program. In addition to immersion in nature, Marcus enjoys backpacking, storytelling, fishing, playing music and singing, any time spent near the ocean, and practicing internal martial arts.

2009-2010 Wildlife Tracking Intensive
Guest Instructor Biographies

Rob Speiden is a senior wildlife tracking instructor for Natural Awareness Tracking School in Christiansburg, Virginia. Tracking humans through Search and Rescue work was a start for Rob to get interested in tracking all animals, and he has trained with many tracking schools around the country including Paul Rezendes' Nature Programs, Charles Worsham's Nature and Vision School, Wilderness Awareness School, Jim Halfpenny and others. Decades of outdoor experience, professional seminars and a strong desire to share with others come together in Rob’s teaching. He was recently certified as a Level II Track and Sign Interpreter by CyberTracker Conservation. Read Rob Speiden's complete biography on his 'Natural Awareness Tracking School' website

Bob Bicknell, owner of Beacon Hill Biological Services, joins us as a guest lecturer in Osteology, Skulls and Skeletons. Bob spent his undergraduate years at Michigan State, earning his B.S. in Zoology in ’76. He moved to the University of Oregon to pursue a masters in Physical Anthropology, studying the ring-tailed lemurs of Madagascar. Since there weren’t many jobs studying lemurs, he did what many hungry bios do and went to work for the Washington Department of Game, now the department of Fish and Wildlife .

He spent his 23 year career working with owls, trout, steelhead, salamanders, and regulations, and gave up the glamorous life of a state regulatory biologist to pursue his avocations, cleaning and articulating skulls and skeletons, teaching, forensic osteology, and consulting biology. He is pictured here with the skull of “Cindy” that he prepared for the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. He has cleaned and curated whales and elephant, shrews and snakes and everything in between. His class will consist of lecture and lab time, analyzing tooth and skull shape and structure, and clues to species identification and habitat use.

Dave Scott. As a child growing up in Austin Texas, Dave found a great love for the outdoors and immersed himself in the natural world through exploration and the close observation of wildlife. In his early 20’s, Dave began to more formally study the natural world at nature and wilderness skills schools across the country, with a focus on ecology, tracking and wildlife behavior. Dave has studied under many of the nations’ great naturalists and trackers and has completed intensive study residential programs at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington, and Past Skills Wilderness School, in Bozeman, Montana. In 2004 Dave began a more focused and intense study of bird behavior, bird tracks and sign, and feather identification, and later used this knowledge to design programs for troubled youth in wilderness areas around the country. Through Dave’s programs, which emphasized the interpretation of bird behavior as an avenue to promote the growth of internal and external awareness, many of his students succeeded in altering their behavior and changing the course of their lives. Dave currently teaches naturalist studies, wildlife tracking, and wilderness survival in the Seattle area and is co-author of Bird Feathers -A Guide to North American Species scheduled for publication in 2010.

Brian McConnell grew up shuffling the through post oak leaves and pine needles of southwestern Arkansas. Catching snakes, following deer, playing with otters and just sitting listening, watching, and feeling primed his passion for hunting and his respect for the earth. Brian studied forestry and wildlife biology at Louisiana Tech University, and then went on to work for the Forest Service in Alaska for several years. He recently completed our Wildlife Tracking Intensive, and is certified a level III tracker under the Cybertracker evaluation process. Currently, Brian makes a living welding and bowhunting. And when not playing with his son Rowan he's probably out in the back yard stalking bears.

 

2008-2009 Wildlife Tracking Intensive
Guest Instructor Biographies

Susan Morse is a nationally recognized naturalist and habitat specialist with thirty years of experience tracking and interpreting wildlife uses of habitat. She is an active member of the Western Forest Carnivores Committee and Northeast Carnivore Conservation Working Group and has focused her research activities on cougar, bobcat, black bear, and Canada lynx. Sue was the recipient in 2001 of the Franklin Fairbanks Award for her lifelong creative and dedicated service to enriching the awareness and understanding of the natural world among the residents of New England.

Susan founded Keeping Track in 1994 and developed her procedures and techniques on six square miles of wild country surrounding her home, 'Wolfrun', in Jericho, Vermont. Susan has served as co-coordinator and primary teacher for the Fort Huachuca Track Count in Arizona, a pioneering effort to teach citizens to utilize track counts as a monitoring tool. There she tested her idea for Keeping Track with other carnivore biologists, in particular Harley Shaw. Wolf Run now serves as one of Keeping Track's training sites, while its administrative office is in Huntington, Vermont. Sue leads Keeping Track's volunteer training programs and oversees development of their training curriculum. Read more about Susan Morse on Keeping Track's website.

Bob Bicknell, owner of Beacon Hill Biological Services, joins us as a guest lecturer in Osteology, Skulls and Skeletons. Bob spent his undergraduate years at Michigan State, earning his B.S. in Zoology in ’76. He moved to the University of Oregon to pursue a masters in Physical Anthropology, studying the ring-tailed lemurs of Madagascar. Since there weren’t many jobs studying lemurs, he did what many hungry bios do and went to work for the Washington Department of Game, now the department of Fish and Wildlife .

He spent his 23 year career working with owls, trout, steelhead, salamanders, and regulations, and gave up the glamorous life of a state regulatory biologist to pursue his avocations, cleaning and articulating skulls and skeletons, teaching, forensic osteology, and consulting biology. He is pictured here with the skull of “Cindy” that he prepared for the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. He has cleaned and curated whales and elephant, shrews and snakes and everything in between. His class will consist of lecture and lab time, analyzing tooth and skull shape and structure, and clues to species identification and habitat use.

Dave Scott. As a child growing up in Austin Texas, Dave found a great love for the outdoors and immersed himself in the natural world through exploration and the close observation of wildlife. In his early 20’s, Dave began to more formally study the natural world at nature and wilderness skills schools across the country, with a focus on ecology, tracking and wildlife behavior. Dave has studied under many of the nations’ great naturalists and trackers and has completed intensive study residential programs at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington, and Past Skills Wilderness School, in Bozeman, Montana. In 2004 Dave began a more focused and intense study of bird behavior, bird tracks and sign, and feather identification, and later used this knowledge to design programs for troubled youth in wilderness areas around the country. Through Dave’s programs, which emphasized the interpretation of bird behavior as an avenue to promote the growth of internal and external awareness, many of his students succeeded in altering their behavior and changing the course of their lives. Dave currently teaches naturalist studies, wildlife tracking, and wilderness survival in the Seattle area and is co-author of Bird Feathers -A Guide to North American Species scheduled for publication in 2010.

Brian McConnell grew up shuffling the through post oak leaves and pine needles of southwestern Arkansas. Catching snakes, following deer, playing with otters and just sitting listening, watching, and feeling primed his passion for hunting and his respect for the earth. Brian studied forestry and wildlife biology at Louisiana Tech University, and then went on to work for the Forest Service in Alaska for several years. He recently completed our Wildlife Tracking Intensive, and is certified a level III tracker under the Cybertracker evaluation process. Currently, Brian makes a living welding and bowhunting. And when not playing with his son Rowan he's probably out in the back yard stalking bears.

Casey McFarland will be facilitating the CyberTracker Conservation Tracker Evaluation for the Wildlife Tracking Intensive this year. He is a graduate of the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program, as well as our apprenticeships in tracking and mentoring. Casey is a Wildlife Tracking Instructor with our annual Summer Wolf Tracking Expedition to backcountry Idaho, and he served as a core instructor with the Residential Program for several years. A couple of years ago, Casey had the honor of being one of the first 3 people to obtain a 100% score on the North American Track and Sign Evaluation through CyberTracker Conservation, and was awarded a North American Track and Sign Specialist Certificate.

2007-2008 Tracking Intensive
Guest Instructor Biographies

Jim Halfpenny, PhD is a highly respected tracker, scientist and educator with a background in mammalogy and ecology. He is the author of over a dozen books and videos, including A Field Guide To Mammal Tracking in North America, Yellowstone Wolves in the Wild, Snow Tracking, several different Scats & Tracks regional series, Discovering Yellowstone Wolves, and most recently, Yellowstone Bears in the Wild (2007).

Since 1961, Jim has taught outdoor education and environmental programs for state, federal, and private organizations. His writing, photographs, and classes have been featured in
The New York Times, Outside Magazine, Backpacker, Sierra, Field and Stream, Natural History, and many other publications. Jim has conducted research and led expeditions to the four corners of the world including both polar regions. He has been tracking since 1957 and teaching tracking since 1969. Read Dr. Jim Halfpenny's complete wildlife tracking biography on his 'A Naturalist's World' website

Rob Speiden is a senior wildlife tracking instructor for Natural Awareness Tracking School in Christiansburg, Virginia. Tracking humans through Search and Rescue work was a start for Rob to get interested in tracking all animals, and he has trained with many tracking schools around the country including Paul Rezendes' Nature Programs, Charles Worsham's Nature and Vision School, Wilderness Awareness School, Jim Halfpenny and others. Decades of outdoor experience, professional seminars and a strong desire to share with others come together in Rob’s teaching. He was recently certified as a Level II Track and Sign Interpreter by CyberTracker Conservation. Read Rob Speiden's complete biography on his 'Natural Awareness Tracking School' website

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