Much of animal tracking focuses around identifying tracks in the snow. So how do you track animals the other nine months of the year? Tracking enthusiast Joe LaRue will provide an overview of summer animal signs in this hands-on field session. Join Tin Mountain in exploring the Brownfield Bog on Tuesday, August 7, 4-7pm.
For the summer tracking workshop, participants will not only look for tracks, but also signs that animals leave (feeding, nesting, scat, marking behaviors, etc). In addition, because tracking isn’t just about experiencing the tracks and sign of an animal’s passage, but also about observing an animal, we will try out two concepts. The first, borrowed from Paul Rezendes, is to have a “quality of attention without intention” – to enter the landscape not with preconceived notions of what will be there or with an agenda, but to experience what we are shown. Secondly and tied into the first objective, will be to shrink our sphere of disturbance to be the same size as our sphere of perception; in other words, to have as little influence on the behaviors of the animals present on the landscape as possible, so that we might observe them and not have them fleeing before us so that we’re left with only tracks or even less.
Joe LaRue has lived and worked in the Mt. Washington Valley for the past 13 years. Joe became interested in tracking after hiking the Appalachian Trail and began to seek out schools and instructors to see what he could learn. Joe’s personal goal is to become certified at the highest attainable level via the Cybertracker evaluation process. This goal ought to keep him busy for the next 5 to 10 years.
Interested in joining Tin Mountain for this program? Make sure to dress for bugs! (long pants, long sleeves, hat, head net). You are also encouraged to bring a small notebook, pen/pencil, ruler/tape measure, camera and any field guide you think appropriate. Course fee $10/member, $15/non-member. For more information or to register, call 447-6991.