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Wildlife Tracking Courses

"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

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