Saturday, December 5, 2020
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Tuition: $20  Materials: $10

Have you ever seen animal tracks during your outings and wondered who made them? Learn the basic steps in identifying footprints of native wildlife in this two-part class. (New registration date: Register by Friday, November 27th to receive your own lesson plan to complete before the online session on Saturday, December 5. You will need colored pencils and a ruler.

Using life-size stencils and a dichotomous key, be guided through drawing, measuring, and naming several mystery tracks. The goal is for you to be able to say whose footprint it is with confidence. Online, we will discuss the material, answer your questions, and review everything with more track identification challenges until you feel like you really get it.

Observing and studying animal tracks offers a new window into seeing nature. Tracks pose questions and searching for the answers means exploring every aspect of your local natural history. This class is focused on answering the question “who” went there. Future classes will focus on the “what, when, how, and why” of the track stories all around us.

About the instructor: Steve Engel has been studying and collecting animal tracks since 1981. In addition to dozens of workshops delivered to classrooms, conferences, and parks, he has taught animal tracking at the California Academy of Sciences, Headlands Institute, Siskyou Field Institute, Portland Audubon Society, and Lindblad Expeditions. He holds a Level III Track & Sign Certificate from Cyber Tracker North America.

 Steve has a B.S. in Natural History from Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA. He said, “I have worked as an environmental educator, field biologist, shipboard naturalist, natural history trip leader, education director, artist, and writer. There are millions of things to learn and teach, and my mission is to keep learning and keep teaching. I’ll answer direct questions, but I’d rather help others explore and discover the answers for themselves.”