Upcoming Programs At A Glance - Fall 2009 through Spring 2010
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October 24-25 2009 Tracking Intensive Weekend Camp-out
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November 7 2009 Creating Your Naturalist's Journal
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November 14 2009 Great Places - Dunbar Brook
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December 5 2009 Animals Preparing For Winter
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January 17 2010 Introduction to Tracking Family Program
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January 23 2010 Tracking: Relearning an Ancient Art
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January 31 2010 Bobcats in Vermont
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February 6 2010 Tracking Fisher in Quabbin
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February 7 2010 Tracking Quabbin Bobcats
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Febrary 13-16 Winter Tracking Intensive
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February 20 2010 Lynx Country in Maine
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February 27 2010 Fullmoon Snowshoe Night Hike
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February 28 2010 Tracking Re-Learning an Ancient Art II
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March 6&7 Animal Track Patterns 2-day Workshop
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April 3 2010 Tree ID with Bob Leverett at Mt. Tom
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May 9 2010 Wild Flowers and Shrubs of North Quabbin
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May 15 Early Morning Birding with John Green
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May 29 Tracking: The Finer Details with Kent Hicks
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June 5 2010 Reading The Spring Landscape in Vermont
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June 6 Early Morning Birding with John Green
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June 12 Tracking Forensics with Kent Hicks
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June 19&20 2010 Tracking Intensive Weekend Camp-out
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June 26 Native American Stone Tool Workshop
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June 27 Black Bear Behavior and Sign
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July 10 Native American Atl-atl Construction
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July - Black Bear Research Project
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Fall Tracking Weekend |
Saturday, October 24, 8 am, thru Sunday, October 25, 5 pm |
Cool, crisp air! No bugs! A flurry of activity as animals prepare for the coming winter!
Join Nick and Valerie for a full weekend immersed in the fascinating world of animal tracks and sign. We will explore a large rustic area with diverse habitats, from rocky ledges with Bobcats, Porcupines, and Fishers, to extensive wetlands and swamps with Beavers, Otters, and Moose. We will drive to our rustic campsite (outhouses, no showers) to set up camp, then spend the rest of the day tracking in the Quabbin forest. We will return to camp for supper and storytelling at the campfire, followed by a night-walk to experience the forest as the animals do - in the dark. Sunday will be spent honing our skills interpreting animal tracks in an area with extensive sandy beaches where we will find tracks of many animals. This is an intensive program, with off-trail hiking and bushwhacking, so participants must be in good physical condition. Participants must provide their own camping equipment (tent and sleeping bag) and should bring a lunch to eat on the trail both days. We will provide dinner Saturday and breakfast Sunday at the campsite (we will contact you ahead of time to accomodate any special dietary requirements). This program will be held in north-central Massachusetts, adjacent to the Quabbin Reservoir. This area is truly amazing in its biodiversity, and is surprisingly wild. We will be in the location where Nick saw his first Eastern Coyote in 1972, and which today is home to many wild animals, including Bald Eagles and Loons, and an expanding population of Black Bear and Moose. Each visit here leads to many surprises, and our students and guests always find this to be a memorable experience.
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with Nick & Valerie Wisniewski |
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Limit: 10 Fee:$125 - includes camping fees and cost of food for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast |
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Field Sketching
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Saturday, November 7, 2009 10 am - 4 pm |
Keeping a nature journal is indispensable for all lovers of the natural world, whether you are an amateur naturalist or a professional. Clare Walker Leslie will guide you through the process of starting a journal, sharpening your observational skills, and deepening your connection with nature. We will learn quick, easy, and fun skills to record our observations through writing and simple drawing.
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with Clare Walker Leslie |
Individual and group instruction will be available, and no prior drawing experience is necessary. Clare’s expert eye will guide you through sketching basic shapes of plants and animals, and will lead you deeper into following your own interests and abilities. Animal trackers, birders, explorers - all will come away with a nature journal full of ways to deepen appreciation for the beauty of the world. |
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Fee:$50/person. Space is limited. |
Clare Walker Leslie has taught nature drawing and field journaling for over thirty years. She’s a visiting faculty member at Williams College, Harvard’s Landscape Design Program, College of the Atlantic, Antioch New England Graduate School, and many Audubon Centers. A trained artist and naturalist, she is a member of the National Guild of Scientific Illustrators and the author of eight books on drawing and observing the natural world, including Nature Drawing, Keeping a Nature Journal, and Drawn to Nature. Clare will have copies of her books available for purchase and signing at the workshop. Dress for the weather - we’ll be outside as much as possible.
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“Setting aside time each day to become absorbed in just being- in the present moment, alone in nature, - will leave you refreshed and refocused. Like a pilgrim going to church, I go outdoors for the prayer that drawing and observing nature offer me. The primordial urge is to Become One, to flee to the arms of Nature, to draw dabbling ducks, preening geese, azalea blossoms, and silhouettes of great blue herons. Nothing spectacular, everything spectacular. The essential magic occurs when pencil meets paper and the eye really sees a tree. The Process of Seeing is what counts, not How Good A Drawing Is. Being A Witness brings a sense of belonging, of compassion, of responsibility.” -Clare Walker Leslie
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Winter Tracking Intensive |
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Saturday, February 13, at 10 am through Tuesday, February 16, at 4 pm |
This program includes 4 days and 3 evening sessions, and will allow students to take their tracking knowledge to a higher level. The small group size will allow us to move easily through the forest and cover more territory than on most programs. The small group size will also insure individual attention and will enable all students to fully participate in interpreting the clues of animal life that we encounter. Each day we will track in a different location, paying special attention to track patterns, reconstructing animal behavior, exploring subtleties of animal track and sign, and taking all the time necessary to investigate questions that arise. Saturday evening may include a night walk, weather permitting, and Sunday and Monday evenings will be spent viewing 35-mm slides and digital images of animal track and sign, studying animal track cats, skulls, bones, and other materials, and further exploring questions that came up during the day’s outing. The program will start on Saturday morning, run through the President’s holiday on Monday, and end late Tuesday afternoon
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with Nick & Valerie Wisniewski |
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Limited to 6 particpants - $350. Lodging for three nights with breakfast will be available for an additional fee at Walnut Hill for the first three registrants - contact us for lodging details.
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Lynx in Northwest Maine |
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Saturday, February 20, 9 am - 5 pm |
We will be searching for track and sign of the rare and endangered Canada Lynx. Solitary and elusive, the Lynx is the ultimate symbol of wilderness. The first time I got on the trail of this legendary animal, I experienced an indescribable joy that I carry with me to this day. Knowing that this remarkable animal is making a comeback brings hope for the future. Without a doubt, this is the ultimate tracking experience in all of New England.
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with Nick Wisniewski |
The meeting location will be in Greenville, Maine, where we will gather to car pool into the Northwoods site, near Baxter State Park. Greenville is approximately a five-hour drive from Boston. A list of lodging accommodations can be provided. For those registering early, lodging-sharing arrangements can help keep costs down, if desired. This will be an adventure in the Big North Woods that you will certainly treasure for years to come.
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Limit: 14 Fee:$50/person
Important: Participants MUST be in good physical shape. Snow may be very deep and we will be in very dense spruce forest and cedar swamp with tough bushwhacking conditions.
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Animal Track Patterns 2-Day Workshop |
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Saturday March 6 10 am - 4:00 pm
and Sunday March 7 10 am - 5:00 pm |
This class will be an in-depth study of animal track patterns. A thorough grasp of strides, trail widths, and gaits is essential for species identification, and is also a door into the world of deciphering and understanding animal behavior. We will spend the first portion of day one indoors in a classroom setting,viewing a presentation on the track patterns of our indigenous mammals, and then interactively discussing the basic gaits of our seven Orders of Mammals. During the afternoon we will be outdoors working on different labs to reinforce our knowledge. On day two, we will be indoors during the morning, covering track patterns in more depth, and we will spend the afternoon outdoors interpreting the puzzles that wild animals have left us in sand and mud.
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with Nick & Valerie Wisniewski |
This class is a must for all levels of trackers, from beginners to experts. You will come away with a better understanding of track patterns and a greater appreciation for the ways our wild animals move. Hiking will be light to moderate and waterproof boots are recommended. A foam pad or waterproof cloth to kneel on will also be useful. The class will run rain-or-shine! This class will meet indoors at Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center in Orange, and we will carpool to the outdoor locations in the afternoons.
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Limit: 12 Fee:$100/person
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Reading the Spring Landscape |
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Saturday, June 5th, 9 am - 5 pm |
Spend a day in Vermont exploring the habits and habitats of our indigenous northern woodland animals. Through careful observation and interpretation of both obvious and subtle field signs, we will investigate how various species interact with the landscape and its botanical composition. This program will be about physical sensing, awareness of forest inhabitants, recognizing dynamics and disturbances, and becoming one and the same with nature. Recognizing and reading remote environs allows you to become part of the forest community, to know the forest just as you know your home and yourself.
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with Alcott Smith |
Join Alcott for an adventure-filled day in the forest sharpening your physical senses and enhancing your ecological awareness. Alcott’s indefatigable energy and boundless knowledge about the forest and its inhabitants will leave you in awe. (Hiking will be in very rough and wild terrain where there are no trails, so be prepared for a challenging, strenuous, and physically demanding day).
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This program will meet in Rochester, Vermont.
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Limit: 14 Fee:$50/person
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| Important: Participants MUST be in excellent physical condition.
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The Ancient Art of Tool Making: Stone Tools |
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Saturday, June 26 10 am - 4pm |
In the morning you will learn about the historical aspects of stone tools and their place in early North American cultures, as well as in other paleo-cultures around the world. The geological origins of raw materials will be explained, and sources for these materials will be discussed. Rob will demonstrate how to make some of these tools using traditional materials and methods, as well as with modern tools and materials. After lunch, students will take their knowledge to a higher level with hands-on work with stone. You will learn the step-by-step process of creating working points out of raw materials using tools as indigenous peoples did.
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with Rob Leverett |
Rob Leverett, of Cherokee-Choctaw ancestry, is a recognized expert in stone tool making. His excitement about the subject is contagious, and students find themselves mesmerized by his depth of knowledge. The course will be held at Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center in Orange, Mass., outdoors around our fire pit if the weather permits, or in our 1850’s barn in the event of rain.
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| Limit: 12 Fee: $50/person |
Black Bears |
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Sunday, June 27 10 am - 5 pm |
Enjoy an adventurous day in bear country. This is bear mating season. Mothers are seperating from their yearling cubs and are being joined by the huge and powerful males. You will see plenty of black bear sign, which could include tracks, trails, scat, bear “nests,” digs, claw and bite marks on trees, and “whammy” trees. We have spent many seasons here in black bear country and are always making exciting new discoveries! Come learn about these highly intelligent animals.
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with Nick and Valerie Wisniewski
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You will be hiking in very rough and wild terrain where there are no trails, so be prepared for some, strenuous hiking. This class will be held in western Massachusetts in the Berkshires near Charlemont.
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| Limit: 12 Fee: $50/person |
Summer 2010 Black Bear Research Project
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This field study course will be a unique opportunity for in-depth study of bear ecology through the observation of bear communication as exhibited in their marking behavior. Participants will work as research assistants, collecting and recording data and mapping the locations. We will be visiting seven sites in Massachusetts and Northern Connecticutt. These sites have been the location of intense bear activity for a number of years, including what we have come to call "Bear Ritual Trails." These sites hold intentional marking by Black Bears, including rubbing, biting, clawing, straddling, and whammying of trees. In addition, there are ritualized patterns of walking that have left footfalls of bears for years, sometimes even generations. On the way to and from these unique sites we will explore for new bear sign to add to our knowledge and understanding of these amazing animals.
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Participants must be sensitive to the natural environment, and must be respectful of the animals whose sign we are studying. We are very conscious of our own intrusions into these sites, and we strictly limit our visits.
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with Valerie & Nick Wisniewski
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Limit: 2 per program. Fee:$50/session. Students may participate in one or more sessions. $200 covers the cost of all seven sessions, allowing you to pick as many as fit into your schedule.
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| Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center |
| Nick Wisniewski and Valerie Major, co-founders |
| Valerie Major began her life-long study of nature accompanying her father in the forests of Arkansas. She continued her training as a fifteen-year student and three-year apprentice with Paul Rezendes. She has taught outdoor skills to youth and adults for twenty-five years. Valerie keeps a link with her native heritage as a board member and teacher at the Eastern American Indian Cultural Center. Valerie encourages the spirit of inquiry and exploration through her primitive, experiential, teaching method. |
| Nick Wisniewski is an expert on animal tracks and sign. He was a long-term student and three-year apprentice of master tracker Paul Rezendes, with whom he maintains close personal ties. His on-going tracking projects include animal surveys for wildlife sanctuaries, and a multi-year effort to document Mountain Lion track and sign in southern New England. A life-long naturalist, he became fascinated by tracking in 1984 after encountering fresh Wolf scat and tracks while on an extended solo trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in Minnesota. His passion is using animal tracking as a unifying method for nature study and exploration. |
| Special Guest Teachers |
| John McCarter was the senior staff instructor for Paul Rezendes Nature Programs, and has taught for many organizations throughout New England. He has been tracking wildlife for more than twenty years and is among the region's leading authorities on animal tracks and sign. John made the discovery of a lifetime when he found a Mountain Lion scat in the Quabbin Reservoir reservation in 1997, which has been dna-verified by two independent labs. |
| Bob Leverett is the East's premier interpreter of old growth forests and is credited with discovering many of the previously unrecognized ancient sites here in the northeast. Bob's expertise is unparalled and his opinion is highly sought by professional forest experts, conservation organizations, and the general public. His encyclopedic knowledge of trees and the forest is matched only by his infectious enthusiasm. He has discovered many places of majestic beauty in his search for "the monarchs of the forest." |
| Alcott Smith is an ecologist of the highest caliber and conducts research and leads field trips for many conservation organizations in New England. From his childhood he has maintained a lifelong commitment and unwavering allegiance to the indigenous fauna of northern New England. Beyond an active role in the perpetuity of endangered species, he revels in sharing his passion with others and excels in his ability to bring to life the relationship between our wild fauna and its habitat. |
| Kent Hicks uses his tracking skills to assist local and state authorities and search and rescue teams in locating lost and missing persons. He has trained Royal Canadian Mounted Police, FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel. Kent's tracking knowledge of humans and animals is unexcelled. An "un-sung" talent, he is considered by many trackers to be the region's leading expert on aging of tracks and sign. |
| Rob Leverett is a recognized expert in "primitive" tool making. Of Cherokee-Choctaw ancestry, he has taught many classes in schools throughout New England, as well as at Native American events. Rob possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of American indigenous people and their cultures and history. He has amazing skill in working with natural materials, and the objects he produces are literally beautiful works of art. He is an inspiring teacher, and his enthusiasm is contagious. |
| Bob Tremblay has been working as a professional outdoor guide since 1982, and has a B.A. and M.A. in Outdoor Adventure Education and Leadership. During his 20 years as an outdoor leader he has guided thousands of people on diverse outdoor adventures including backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, rock and ice climbing, and dog sledding. Bob loves to share his passion for the outdoors with others. |
| John Green is a reknowned naturalist and professional photographer. He has lived in Western Massachusetts for over thirty years and travels widely exploring and documenting nature with his awe-inspiring photography. We are honored to have him join our teaching staff! |
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Laura Sebastianelli
is an enthusiastic naturalist, educator, and Registered Maine Guide with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Laura, a Paul Rezendes tracking apprenticeship graduate, has extensive knowledge and experience in Maine’s Northwoods. She surveys Maine’s lynx population for Inland Fish and Wildlife , and searches for gray wolf for National Wildlife Federation.
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Tracking & Nature Center 
