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The Los Penasquitos Tracking Team offers a 3 part
Tracker/Naturalist series. Each class (Beginning, Intermediate and
Advanced) consists of a weeknight lecture (typically 7-9pm) and a Saturday field
session (typically 8am to 4:30pm). In these classes, you will be
introduced to the science and art of wildlife tracking, starting with basic
track identification and extending into trailing and advanced gait analysis.
As we believe ones tracking ability is closely related to their skills as a
naturalist, we also cover topics such such as native plants and habitats, mammal
skull and dental identification, taxonomy, journaling and more. At the
completion of the Tracker/Naturalist series, participants may join the
San Diego Tracking Team
Apprentice Program.
See our schedule for
the current class dates. For more information on our classes or to
request a registration form, contact us at
lptt@cox.net or write to the Los Penasquitos Tracking Team at:
P.O. Box 501281, San Diego, CA. 92150-1281
Beginning Tracker/Naturalist Class
The Beginning Class is structured to give the
prospective tracker a solid base of tracking skills and strategies for
developing a sharp eye for detail. We concentrate on basic mammal track
and sign recognition, introductory level gait patterns, basic wildlife
physiology and taxonomy, Southern California habitat recognition and the
relationship between those habitats and animal species. You will be
introduced to several methods and exercises that have proven to be
effective in implanting the knowledge you need to become a proficient
tracker such as journaling and visual patterning.
Prerequisites: None
Cost: $50. Members of the San
Diego Tracking Team or Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve
receive a $10 discount off the registration fee.
Pre-registration required.
Intermediate Tracker/Naturalist Class
The Intermediate Class will broaden your experience
giving you a chance to develop personal strategies for confident
recognition and interpretation of tracks and sign on a variety of
surfaces. We will help you get beyond the track identification phase and
into the interpretation phase; with exercises in speculative tracking,
aging, soil dynamics, debris interaction, trailing, mammal skull and
dental identification, and tracking on various substrates. Gait
interpretation learned in the beginning class will be expanded upon.
Prerequisites: Completion of the
Beginning Tracker Naturalist Class. Completion of the San Diego
Tracking Team's wildlife survey training and participation in at least
one transect will satisfy the prerequisite.
Cost: $50. Members of the San
Diego Tracking Team or Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve
receive a $10 discount off the registration fee.
Pre-registration required.
Advanced Tracker/Naturalist Class
The culmination of the three part series, this class concentrates on fine
detail and further development of your proficiency as a tracker.
Trailing animals through various difficult surfaces will allow
opportunities for us to share strategies and exercises that will enable
you to stay on the right track. We provide drills and exercises that
will help you expand your knowledge base, point out areas you need to
work on and give you a taste for what it would be like to go through a
tracker evaluation.
Prerequisites: Completion of the
Intermediate Tracker Naturalist Class.
Cost: $50. Members of the San
Diego Tracking Team or Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve
receive a $10 discount off the registration fee.
Pre-registration required.
Tracking Intensive Class
The Tracking Intensive Class is a capstone to our
Tracker/Naturalist Series. Tracking Intensive is all “dirt time”,
which means no lectures or slide shows as in our Tracker/Naturalist
series. Through a full day of field exercises, you will have the
opportunity to practice your skills related to everything that was
covered in the Tracker/Naturalist series – and then some. Exercises
will be organized in a tracker evaluation fashion, so you can improve
your tracking and naturalist skills while also getting a feel for what
an actual tracking certification test is like.
Prerequisites: Completion of
the Tracker Naturalist Series.
Cost: $25.
Pre-registration required. |
