Request Catalog Contact Us

 
Get our founder Jon Young's new tracking book from our on-line store! Your purchase supports nature education.

Calendar Photos

NatureSkills Weeklong

NatureSkills Weeklong
July 12-18, 2009; 6:00 p.m. Sun. - 12:00 p.m. Sat.
Our land in the foothills of the Cascades, near Duvall, WA
Lead instructor Emily Gibson; multiple guest instructors
$785; Food and camping provided; Airport shuttle available
Call to register: 425-788-1301

Spend a week exploring the natural world with Wilderness Awareness School’s most experienced instructors as we learn fundamental tools for connecting with and studying nature.

Classroom instruction will be paired with mentored dirt time in the field where we take theory into practice tracking, birding, studying plants, and exploring the natural world. It’s a wonderful mix of nature awareness, outdoor skills and wilderness survival training.

A full day will be spent exploring each of the following areas:

Field Observation: Refine your physical observation skills and learn to integrate intuitive awareness into your study of nature. Chris Laliberte weaves stories, current research on human perception and brain patterning in with concrete practices for learning to see and hear more in nature, while expanding both your awareness and ability to retain new learning!

Wildlife Tracking: Practice track and sign location, identification, interpretation, aging, ecological tracking, and trailing. A mix of technical skills training and dirt time provides the opportunity to both build skills and work through challenging mysteries with a mentor looking over your shoulder to guide you. Jenn Wolfe guides your study for the day.

Edible and Medicinal Plants: Develop your identification skills and learn to use plants for food and medicine. Collection and processing techniques are covered. John Gallagher guides you down the path towards a deeper relationship with wild plants.

Wilderness Survival & Outdoor Living Skills: A skilled naturalist must be comfortable traveling and living in the natural world. Learn shelter construction, fire making, crafts for primitive outdoor living and other wilderness survival training basics with Dan Corcoran.

Bird Language Interpretation: As the master tracker Olaus Murie wrote "One should always listen to the warnings of the birds." Learn to recognize the different calls and alarms of the birds and a whole new world of awareness opens up to you. A day in the field with Alexia Stevens will transform your awareness of what’s going on in the forest around you.

Although class will be held in the beautiful forests of the Pacific Northwest, you will leave with a set of invaluable core routines you can take anywhere. This class covers indispensable skills for naturalists!

NatureSkills.com, our content web site with numerous free articles, is a great supporting resource for this class!

Instructor Biographies

Emily Gibson, lead instructor for the NatureSkills Weeklong is Adult Programs Coordinator, Assistant Summer Camp Director, a Youth Courses Instructor, and our Outreach Coordinator. Emily studied Wildlife Science at the University of Washington and was a research assistant for several years studying the effects of urbanization on songbird populations in the Puget Sound region. After graduating from the Residential Program in 2005, Emily participated in the Instructor Training Apprenticeship and was an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program. She has also continued her study of wildlife tracking through the Tracking Apprenticeship and Tracking Intensive.

John Gallagher, L.Ac., CCH shares his passion and experience with edible and medicinal plants. He is a staff specialist in herbal studies at the Residential Program, and a marketing and technology specialist for Wilderness Awareness School. Since 1991, John has served in many positions, most notably 10 years as Independent Studies Director. He was also the design editor for the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and has also completed the course as a student. He is a licensed Five Element Acupuncturist, and a Community Centered Herbalist. John and his wife Kimberly run LearningHerbs, a business that teaches simple herbal medicine making through products they designed.

Alexia Stevens shares her skills and passion with Bird Language and Behavior. She is a 2002 Residential Program Graduate, and serves as a staff specialist in Bird Language at the Residential Program and other adult courses. Alexia and has worked as a bird biologist in the North Cascades and Olympic National Parks, and has a degree in Environmental Science with a concentration on bird behavior and communication. She is currently recording an audio guide to bird behavior.

Dan Corcoran shares his passion and experience with wilderness survival skills and naturalist studies. He serves as the Director of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and as an instructor with Youth and Adult Courses at Wilderness Awareness School. Dan received his B.S. in Biology from Indiana University, is a 2003 graduate of the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program, is a Kamana graduate, and a Wilderness First Responder.

 

Jenn Wolfe shares her experience and passion with wildlife tracking. She has trained with Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School since 1995 in the arts of animal tracking, mentoring and naturalist training skills, as well as completing a 9-month Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship course with Jon Young and Mark Elbroch in California. Jenn has been a Lead Instructor for 6 years on Adult Expeditions, tracking animals in the wilds of Idaho’s backcountry as well as working with adults locally through Tracking Club, tracking intensives and other adult courses in the Puget Sound Area for 12 years. She has been a public school teacher in Seattle since 1989 with a BA in Education and a BFA in Art.

Chris Laliberte: Chris shares his knowledge and expertise with nature-based mentoring and wilderness survival crafts. He has worked in the field of outdoor education since 1992, designing and leading courses that incorporate wilderness adventure and natural history. In 1996 he founded Wilderness Awareness School's Community School for teens. He has a Master's Degree in Environmental Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Mythological Studies.

Call to register: 425-788-1301

Registration Information
Calendar
Scholarship Information