"Before
coming to Wilderness Awareness School, I gave tracks the same interest
as someone's discarded trash. Through your classes I not only learned
how to ID animal tracks and gaits, I got connected to the mystery of
it. Now when I see a track I begin a voyage wondering who made it, when,
why, what was it doing, where was it going .. and am now an excited
traveler on this path!" -E.R.
Wilderness Awareness School offers some of the finest wildlife tracking
training courses anywhere in North America. With programs designed for
everyone from beginning to advanced students, we are dedicated to continuing
the development and growth of the art and science of tracking.
View our Wildlife Tracking Courses
Wilderness
Awareness School's teachings are all built on the foundation of understanding
nature with the depth of knowledge of a naturalist, and with the connection
and sense of place of a native inhabitant. We view animal tracking as
an integrative discipline which requires knowledge and skills in variety
of naturalist pursuits and outdoors skills. We train trackers that speak
a language which is based not only on a thorough knowledge of tracks,
trails and sign, but also on a rich grounding in the natural history,
anatomy and behavior characteristics of animals, and ecological processes.
Whether it's out for one morning at our Tracking Club, or for ten months
of in-depth study around the Pacific Northwest with our Wildlife Tracking
Intensive course, we offer something for everyone interested in learning
more about the art of wildlife tracking.
Our Instructors
All of our tracking programs are lead by instructors that bring a diversity
of teaching experience as well as practical experience applying tracking
skills in field. Our tracking instructors are both skilled trackers
and experienced educators.
We see tracking as a growing and evolving field and encourage our instructors
and students to continue to refine and expand their skills. Because
of this you will find our classes are dynamic, engaging, and constantly
evolving. We teach best practices in the field and include the latest
research and understanding of wildlife ecology and tracking techniques
in all of our classes.
Guest instructors, well known practitioners in the field, also join
us for our intensive programs and to give public speaking appearances
from time to time.

Discover which wildlife tracking course is best for
you...
Our Wildlife Tracking Courses
and Expeditions
Monthly
Tracking Club - One Sat. morning per month, Sept. -
June
Fun-filled mornings of community learning as we see into the lives of
wild animals through the tracks they leave behind. Participants are led
by skillful naturalist instructors into the world of mystery and intrigue
that we call tracking.
Snow
Tracking and Winter Wilderness Survival Skills -
Feb. 8-10, 2008
Revel in the beauty of the Olympic mountains as you track cougars,
marten, coyotes and other wildlife in the North Cascades this winter,
and study the behavior of wildlife in winter through their tracks and
sign ! For more advanced trackers, challenge and expand your knowledge
with the assistance of highly experienced trackers. We will also learn
winter wilderness survival skills such as shelter construction, snow
travel techniques and winter safety.
Wildlife
Trailing Weekend - April 11-13, 2008
Through the beautiful Eastern foothills of the Cascades, you
will have the opportunity to hone your skills of observation and ability
to predict animal movement and behavior in the persuit of catching up
to the very animal you are trailing!
NatureSkills
Weeklong - July 13-19, 2008
Explore the natural world with Wilderness Awareness School’s most
experienced instructors as we learn fundamental tools for connecting
with and studying nature. In the classroom and in the field, this holistic
program teaches widlife tracking, birding, wilderness survival techniques,
edible and medicinal plants, and exploring the natural world.
Summer
Wolf Tracking Expedition - July 27-Aug. 2,
2008
Explore remote and beautiful backcountry, learning first-hand
about the ways of the gray wolf and their ecosystem. Learn through immersion
in this diverse landscape, as we discover and follow the tracks and
sign of wolves and other wildlife on the edge of the largest designated
wilderness area in the continential United States! This course is ideal
for both beginners and students with prior tracking experience.
Advanced
Wolf Tracking Expedition - Aug. 3-9, 2008
This week of tracking is open only to those who have attended
a week of our standard Summer
Wolf Tracking Expedition (including those registered for the 2008
expedition) or are graduates of our intensive mentoring courses. Expect
long days and lots of miles on the ground as we put our tracking skills
and awareness to the test, and travel through the mountains searching
for and following the trails of wolves and other wildlife in the Idaho
backcountry.
Wildlife
Tracking Intensive - Sept. 2008 - June 2009
The Wildlife Tracking Intensive, our most in-depth tracking course,
meets one weekend per month from Sept. - June, and provides in-depth
training 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.
Kamana
Naturalist Training Program - At your own pace
The Kamana Naturalist Training Program, developed and refined for over
twenty years, is a comprehensive independent study course that covers
the naturalist background needed to engage in the wilderness arts -
including wildlife tracking, bird language, survival and primitive living
skills, traditional herbalism, and naturalist mentoring. Begin with
Kamana One: Exploring Natural
Mystery. During this short course you will experience two weeks
of awareness exercises and six areas of ecological study using a field
guide and audio series narrated by Jon Young. Begin to see the world
through "native eyes."
Earth
Mentor Program - June 26-Aug. 7, 2008
This six-week outdoor instructor course offers foundational tools for
becoming a meaningful mentor in the lives of children. You will receive
training in Wilderness Awareness School's unique educational method,
gain experience teaching children as an Assistant Instructor at our
summer nature camps, hone your wildlife tracking and other wilderness
skills (and learn new ones), and even go on our Summer Wolf Tracking
Expedition! College credit is now available as an option to students
in this course.
Wilderness
Awareness Residential Program - Sept. 2008-June 2009
Our core intensive course is nine months of thorough grounding in every
aspect of our curriculum, spent as part of a supportive community of
fellow learners. 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.
Volunteer Wildlife Tracking Opportunities
Cascade
Wildlife Monitoring Project - Training in November
or December, and then Surveying Jan. - March
In this environmental stewardship project, teams of volunteers carry out
snow tracking surveys throughout the Winter to search for and document
the presence of wildlife in key areas along Interstate 90, including rare
and sensitive forest carnivores such Marten, Lynx, and Wolverines. Information
gained from these surveys may be invaluable in helping protect wildlands
from imminent development and direct the future construction of wildlife
crossings of the interstate.
Some articles of interest from our NatureSkills.com
site:
Tracking
Our Natural Roots - by Dave Moskowitz
Animal
Tracking Guide - What to Take with You - by Clint Hollingsworth
Animal
Tracking Basics: Slow Harmonic Gait - by Jon Young
Registration Information
Calendar
Scholarship Information