View the 2023-24 program flyer
Check back in July 2024 for next year's program dates and details.
Join certified tracker Sophie Mazowita for a 6-month immersion in wildlife track and sign, mammal ecology, and monitoring techniques for CHC's WildPaths program.
We'll spend 8 Saturdays exploring diverse wildlife habitat at field sites throughout the Cold Hollow area, learning wildlife sign in snow and other substrates, and building an understanding of how animals move through the landscape.
Topics will include:
- clear and obscure print identification
- animal movement, gaits and track patterns
- trailing techniques
- wildlife behavior and natural history
- scat and scent-marking
- dens, nests, and beds
- feeding sign
- wildlife surveys
- trail camera use
You'll join a community of learners interested in keeping track of our wild neighbors and have an opportunity to apply your skills to monitor conservation priority sites, report rare species, and identify wildlife corridors and road crossings.
The tracking immersion will train you specifically to recognize signs of CHC's target species including bobcat, lynx, fisher, otter, mink, moose and black bear—while keeping your eyes open to signs of all other animal activity, building pattern recognition and anticipating where to look.
Dates:
The WildPaths training takes place across 8 Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring a mix of indoor classroom and field instruction on each date.
November 4, 2023
December 2, 2023
January 13, 2024
February 3, 2024
February 24, 2024
March 16, 2024
April 6, 2024
April 27, 2024
Cost: $600. Financial support may be available.
Certification Option:
May 18 & 19, 2024
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Additional cost $325
The WildPaths immersion has been designed to culminate in a CyberTracker Track & Sign certification class on May 18-19, 2024. This class functions as both an evaluation and a training, with an opportunity to learn from one of the best trackers in the country and earn an internationally-recognized certification in wildlife tracking. The WildPaths immersion program is designed to prepare you for it, with opportunities to practice the evaluation format and gain familiarity with the process. This class will be led by Senior Tracker and Evaluator Nate Harvey, of Marlboro, Vermont.
About the Instructor:
Sophie Mazowita is a certified Track & Sign Professional and wildlife guide based in Fletcher, Vermont. She started her wildlife tracking journey while working as a park ranger in Algonquin Park, Ontario, then moved to Vermont to complete a Master's degree in the UVM Field Naturalist Program. Since graduation, she has studied tracking intensively with experts in New England, the Pacific Northwest, and South Africa. She initiated the Burlington VT Mammal Tracking Project in 2015 and has taught tracking workshops for dozens of groups including Green Mountain Audubon, North Branch Nature Center, the Vermont Master Naturalist Program, Champlain College and UVM. Currently she offers tracking education and consulting services through her website, Tracking Connection, and also guides week-long wildlife trips to Yellowstone and to Canada's polar bear country with Natural Habitat Adventures/WWF. At home in Vermont, her work focuses on identifying wildlife corridors and monitoring forest connectivity at a town and regional scale, and she manages the community science program for Cold Hollow to Canada.
Questions?
Please reach out by email to sophie@coldhollowtocanada.org
Registration:
Apply for the program here.
Priority given to residents of the Cold Hollow to Canada region (Richford, Enosburgh, Montgomery, Bakersfield, Fletcher, Waterville and Belvidere) and adjacent towns, or anyone interested in traveling to this region to take part in our wildlife monitoring volunteer program. We welcome anyone interested to apply!