This winter Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center has teamed up with Tamakoce Wilderness Programs and The Rensselaer Plateau Alliance (R.P.A.) to bring you the 2010 Animal Tracking Series. This series is designed to take you from the very basics of animal tracking through some intermediate level training. The month long series will include five field days with local and regionally known trackers and two evening classes on animal sign and movement.
This is part of an effort to assess the health and vitality of the forests on the Rensselaer Plateau and to form a clear and concise picture of what animals are using what parts of the plateau for what purposes. One of our goals is to form a core group of people trained in tracking, data recording and analysis to add to the R.P.A’s efforts to bring towns together to preserve the Plateau’s pristine and delicate ecosystems.
Our other goal is to get people out in nature and give them some tools to read the signs that surround them as they do their hikes, walks and paddles.
The series can be taken as a whole course or as individual classes. Choose what works best for you.
Courses
January 2 – Basic Tracking Introduction with Lisa Hoyt and Dan Yacobellis, 10 am – 2 pm, $25, $20 members.
January 9 – Daylong Tracking Intensive with Dan Yacobellis 9 am – 4 pm, $30, $25 members.
January 12 – Evening Slideshow and Discussion on various animal signs with Dan Yacobellis, 7 -9 pm, $15, $10 members.
January 23 – Follow A Fisher Family Day. All ages. We’ll find a fisher trail and follow it to see how the fisher spends its days. Family rate $25, $20 members. This day is free with a full course registration.
January 27 – Evening Video and Discussion of animal patterns of movement with Jim Bonesteel and Dan Yacobellis, 7 – 9 pm, $15, $10 members.
February 6 and 7 – Two days of Tracking Adventures with Alcott Smith, 9 am – 5 pm, $30, $25 members per day (second day can be taken as half day).
The whole course costs $150, $120 for members.