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Artwork by Wolf Journey alumn Joanna Colbert, depicting Wolf College instructor Nikki.
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Full-Time Residential Summer Environmental Education Apprenticeship
The Wildlife Conservation & Tracking Instructors Training features Wildlife Tracking Instructor certification options, plus program development and employment assistance upon graduation. Click here for course description and logistical details of this program that we founded in 2001 and which will follow this schedule in 2012:
June 8-14: Orientation; Wolf Journey Part Three - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker; Artisanry Projects;
Meet with your personal mentor and receive specialty training with your apprenticeship group.
June 15-16: Help Tend Booth at Washington State Homeschool Convention.
June 17-23: Attend the Earth Skills Educational Training.
June 23, 30; July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; August 4, 11, 18 Meet with Apprenticeship Mentors.
June 25-29, July 16-20, August 6-10: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracks & Birds day camps.
July 1-6 assist our Backpacking into Wolf Country overnight camp.
July 8-13 attend our Wolves & Wildlife Trackers Training.
July 22-27 attend our Wilderness Survival Training & Trek.
July 29 - Aug 3 assist our Secrets of the Ancient Scout.
August 12-17 attend our Earth Skills Artisanry Training.
August 20 - Sept 14: Optional complimentary attendance at another day camp, plus a week Traditional Fishing training camps, a week of Honorable Harvesting, and a week at the North Cascades Spirit Trek.
Sept 15-16: Graduation Celebrations & Optional Ethnozooligist Certification evaluation upon graduation which requires a $200 fee for contracted evaluators.
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Black bear track up in the snow, which lingers all summer at high elevations in the Cascade mountains.
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Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training
Summer Residential Apprenticeship
In 2011, all of our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships run June 15th - August 20th, with optional stay until September 10th. In comparision with our other summer apprenticeship choices, the Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training focuses on the study of the animal kingdom plus the skill of understanding "sign" in tracking animals, and features a Wildlife Tracking Instructor Certification option and also a broader Tracking Instructor Certification option upon graduation.
Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:
• Application Deadlines, Tuition & Enrollment Capacity;
• Mission & Who Would Attend This Program;
• Program Instructors & Benefits including Certification;
• Program Goals & Skills Covered;
• Schedule Breakdown;
• How to Prepare & Apply for this Program; Responsibilities at Camp; Notes from Chris
• Program History & More Depth
Tuition, Credit, Cost Breakdown, Refund Policy
Click here for tuition, credit information, cost rationale and refund information. Program Capacity will be limited to 10 students between all our apprenticeships in Summer 2011. Reserve your spot by applying right away.
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Sizing up the the bear scratch marks on an alder tree at the old Wolf Camp property on Woods Lake in 2005.
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Program Mission & Participants
The mission of the Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training is that you become excellent experiential teacher of most vertebrates and some invertebrates. Vertebrates are animals that generally include fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Invertebrates are animals without a backbone, and trackers limit their pursuit to those which can be readily seen and followed, including Annelids (earthworms, leeches), Arthropods (insects, arachnids, and crustaceans), and intertidal life (shellfish, jellyfish, starfish, anemonies, urchins, squids). To further your wildlife tracking skills even further, check out our Academic Year Ethno-Zoology Apprenticeship for a follow-up program.
This Summer Teaching Apprenticeship is designed for: 1) experienced naturalist, zoologists and trackers learn to teach their crafts to students of all ages, 2) experienced teachers of other subject matters become versed in wildlife tracking in a familiar fast-paced educational setting, and 3) aspiring wildlife trackers to teach youth these subjects while becoming versed in them simultaneously. No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your own health will be the priority while developing into better and healthier instructors. We hope that your development of a personal medicine wheel of health, guided by permaculture principles, the values of earth skills, and your own spiritual study, we hope that each participant becomes a person to whom anyone could turn for learning about tracking and wildlife in general.
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Lead instructor Chris Chisholm and student enjoying a bear track during one of the first tracking workshops he held in 1997.
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Program Instructors, Benefits & Certification Options
Program Instructors: Chris Chisholm will be your mentor through this experience, with assistance from Kim and guidance from Seasonal Faculty who will be teaching during the summer.
Benefits of the Program: More than half our staff came on board through our Summer Residential Apprenticeships, while others enrolled to receive training in order to found their own schools or gain experience for employment elsewhere. Past apprentices agree that the place they learned the most about how to teach in their life, as well as where they learned the greatest bulk of their tracking skills, was while assisting the incredible instructors at Wolf Camp as they guided youth through the summer. Your transformation into an excellent tracking instructor is the greatest of benefits, but as a graduate, you can also attend any of our 2011-2012 Academic Year Ethno-Ecology Apprenticeships for just $1,750 per semester, and future appreticeship choices beyond that at similar discounts.
Beyond tuition, travel and health insurance, you need not spend a dime all summer, as all additional expenses are covered with work trade. You don't even need any books, as you will have free access to the Wolf College library. Benefits also include employment assistance or support to develop your own program elsewhere upon graduation, and of course, graduates become eligible to work at Wolf Camp as instructors, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills. Bottom line is that graduates invariably express how grateful they are in the year following their apprenticeship when they realize that they somehow "just know how to teach" tracking and other subjects as well. By the end of your summer, you will feel that you have fully embodied and can live up to your title of Certified Wildlife Tracking Instructor.
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Chris demonstrating "animal forms" in 2010.
Students tracking in 2010.
Heron track we studied in early June 2010, using the great new book by David Moskowitz.
Picture Nikki took at the old Wolf Camp property on Lummi Island of Great Blue Heron catching a vole back in 2001.
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Program Goals & Skills
Your goals will expand over the course of the summer, from learning the basics of earth skills education, to focusing on the development of your wildlife tracking skills, to being given teaching opportunities during the summer according to your desire and readiness.
1st Priority: Learn the best methods of teaching earth skills to all ages. The way to become the best of teachers is to observe, participate in, and take notes on all the activities our instructors present over the summer, including staying up a half hour after the kids go to sleep in order to record your experiences. If you just want to focus on learning wildlife tracking skills, and not on teaching, then apply to attend our Academic Year Ethno-Zoology Apprenticeship. Thanks! But if learning to teach as well as expanding your knowledge of wildlife tracking is your goal, then please join us!
2nd Priority: Take care of yourself, while nurturing campers and supporting other staff. It is important that you come into the program as healthy and prepared as possible, for although during the training portion of the program your educational needs are the focus, during the summer camp season, the needs of the children at camp will be the focus, so you will have to learn to remain healthy amongst constant camp activity. This is the trick to a successful teaching career.
3rd Priority: Develop a working knowledge of wildlife tracking. Apprenticeship graduates always relate how at the end of the summer, they were amazed at how this "just happened" but on the other hand, with a skill like wildlife tracking, it's all about studying each and every animal at length. The opportunity to assist lead instructors and take on instructional leadership yourself during the summer is a great way to fully embody your own wildlife tracking skills, because sometimes you can learn best only that which you teach.
Specialty Skills Learned
• Wildlife Tracking & Animal Surveying (identification, trailing, aging, interpretation)
• Birding & Bird Language (academic and song-to-alarm interpretations)
• Naturalist Sketching & Journaling (using sit spots, drawing instruction, quick journaling strategies)
• Skills of the Ancient Scout (sensory awareness, stealthy movement, camouflage, games)
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Primitive Cooking & Food Storage (pit cook, clay oven, ash cakes, smoking, jerkying, pemmican)
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation (drawing from knowledge of area herbalists)
• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas (from daily health routines, to our special spa treatments)
• Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter (debris hut, lean-to, wickiup, thatch hut, earth lodge, split cedar cabins, including fire drafting strategies)
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction (bow drill, hand drill, fire plow, flint & steel)
• Flintknapping & Primitive Tool Making (from harvested stones, bones, wood)
• Bow & Arrow Making (survival bows, self bows, lumber bows, fletching, lashing, etc.)
• Primitive Fishing (wiering, netting, spearing, bow fishing, hand fishing, hook and line, gorges, bullfrogging)
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making (double and triple reverse wrap using nettle, fireweed, cedar, kelp seaweed)
• Primitive Hunting (bow and arrow, rabbit stick, at-latl, ethics, strategies, butchering)
• Hide Tanning (wet and dry scraping, brain and other high-tannin methods, hair on and off)
Experiential Skills Introduced
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Sustainable Building
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Trapping
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
• Rock Climbing & Alpine Mountaineering
Earth Skills Educational Skills
• Best skills to introduce to each age group (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, young adults, parents, elders)
• Most effective methods to use with each age group (didactic/wolf, questioning/coyote, imagining/fox, imitation/dog)
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts
• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
• Incorporating Earth Skills & Starting New Schools (examples of non-profits, partnerships, sole ventures, and communities)
• Political Environmentalism (left and right wing strategies, legislative and artistic strategies)
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Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert.
Wolf scat we found during a tracking camp in 2008.
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June 15: If you are driving or taking public transportation to the Wolf Campus, please arrive between 4:00-5:00. If you are flying or taking the bus or train, please book your arrival into the Seattle or Tacoma Transit Stations or SeaTac Int'l Airport by 1:00 p.m. because we will be picking up at those locations at around 2:00 p.m. We will unpack and prepare dinner together from 5:00-6:00, eat from 6:00-7:00, do an introductory orientation from 7:00-8:00, and share stories and music around the campfire from 8:00-9:00.
June 16: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Campus renovation meeting and work party from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to set up your blog and prepare Wolf Journey Volume III - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker notes (goals, earth skills assessment, etc.) to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 17: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Help set up our interactive learning booth at the Washington State Homeschool Convention from 9:00-11:00. Learn to make cordage with various materials from 11:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Learn to make cattail mats from 1:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 18: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Learn to make birch bark baskets from 9:30-10:30, and willow baskets from 11:00-12:00 at the homeschool convention. Lunch from 12:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire music and stories from 7:00-9:00.
June 19-24: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Yakima Canyon from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner from 4:00-5:00 and eat from 5:00-6:00. Begin your training week at 6:00 with the Earth Skills Educational Training: Preparing Lessons and Teaching to All Ages, Backcountry Guiding and Risk Management, Group Facilitation, Wilderness First Aid, Open Water Lifeguarding & CPR, and Issues Facing Outdoor Education. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships may attend this course at $525-$675, depending on when they register. Course ends Friday at 5:00. Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel back to Puyallup and unpack from 8:00-9:00.
June 25: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week's day camps from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
June 26: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
June 27 - July 1: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracking Day Camp serving King & Snohomish Counties on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 2: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 3-8: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Bellingham area from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Learn how to teach older youth while assisting a lead instructor during our Overnight Camps at Mt. Baker, and/or completing field exercises from Wolf Journey Volume III - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker, and/or attending Wilderness Survival Training & Trek for adults depending on the goals you arrange with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentor. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-10:00.
July 9: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 10-15: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to the Olympia area from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Learn wildlife tracking in depth by co-mingling between our Overnight Camps co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l and our Wildlife Trackers - Bioregional Ecology & Zoology Training. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00.
July 16: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 17: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
July 18-22: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracking Day Camp co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 23: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 24: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel with lead instructors to the Portland/Vancouver area from 6:00-9:00 and help them prepare for this week's day camp.
July 25-29: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracking Day Camp serving Portland OR & Vancouver WA on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 30: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 31 - August 5: Sunday Brunch from 10:00-12:00. Pack from 11:00-1:00. Travel to the Pacific Coast from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Learn how to teach older youth while assisting a lead instructor during Secrets of the Ancient Scout and completing field exercises from Wolf Journey Volume III - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships may also attend our Wild Ethnobotany & Herbalist Training running this week at $525-$675, depending on when they register. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-7:30. Travel to Puyallup from 7:30-10:00.
August 6: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 7: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
August 8-12: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracking Day Camps in Puyallup on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
August 13: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 14-19: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to Dash Point from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Co-mingle between our Overnight Youth Camps, our adult Earth Skills Artisanry Training, and completing field exercises from Wolf Journey Volume III - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker. Course ends at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup on Friday at 7:00. Attend week-in-review meeting from 7:00-9:00.
August 20: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Blog your week and finalize Wolf Journey notes to share with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to prepare for evening activities. Meet with your Wildlife Trackers Instructor Training mentors from 2:00-5:00. Make Dinner from 5:00-6:00, and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire Party & Informal Summer Apprenticeship Awards from 7:00-9:00.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 21-27: Same schedule as for the week of June 26 - July 2 learning to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wildlife Tracking Day Camp in the Skagit Valley.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 28 - Sept 3: Attend the Honorable Hunting & Fishing Camp.
Optional Complimentary Week of September 4-9: Attend the North Cascades Spirit Trek for summer apprentices and other long-term students.
September 10: Summer Apprenticeship Evaluations & Graduation
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Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert.
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