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 nine 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 nine 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.

Two Paths: Primary and Advanced

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. See below

Learn more about the Primary Path of Study
Learn more about the Advanced Path of Study

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.

College Credit

Transferable undergraduate college credit through Western State College is available for interested Wildlife Tracking Intensive students. It is 6 credits in Biology (available for either the primary path or advanced path). There is more information on Western State College's website (NOTE: The Tracking Intensive is listed on their website as "Anake Tracking Courses," and is found on the same page below "Anake Residential Program"). Contact us if you have further questions about college credit.

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.