Location(s): Greater Seattle Area (WOODINVILLE, WA)

Every time we step outside of our door, there are myriad stories to be told of the comings-and-goings of animals in the world, and one of the oldest human capacities is to read and interpret these stories. The art and science of tracking offers an ecological window into the happenings of the living world around us.

Through this experience, you will grow a capacity in exploring the vast world of wildlife tracking. While we will certainly cover some of the key fundamental themes, every tracking experience is unique, and we will go where the tracks take us. Topics that will likely be explored:

Basic wildlife foot physiology and morphology

The natural history of landscapes

Clear print identification

Concepts in behavior and wildlife sign interpretation

How wildlife interacts with landscapes

Aging tracks and sign on the landscape

Whether beginner or advanced, every participant will walk away with a lot more knowledge and “search images” for the subtle patterns left behind by life on the landscape, ultimately feeling a stronger connection to the natural world.

The Format

This rich learning experience is facilitated as a field assessment (a test). Please consider this before you sign up, since for some folks test formats are inherently stressful and we want you to opt in. To understand why Queer Nature is hosting a field exam like this, please read "Additional Context" at the bottom of this page.

This unique evaluation is 100% field-based and is sure to be engaging for all. This is a rigorous tracking experience designed to give honest reflection and feedback around each person’s unique skillset. While the evaluation helps us notice and be honest with our areas of unawareness in knowledge and experience, the evaluators always emphasize learning and development. Whether an experienced or beginning tracker, participants will leave this experience looking at the ground in a completely different way with new tools to continue to develop themselves.

Note: To attain a certificate, one must achieve a certain score threshold. For those brand new to tracking, it can sometimes take a couple times of going through this process before attaining a certificate. Whether or not one attains a certificate does not have any bearing on the rich educational experience of the evaluation.

Cybertracker Evaluations typically cost anywhere from $250-700 dollars per person. Due to funding from our Patrons and grantors Patagonia and The North Face, we are able to provide this at a donation-only level.

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Logistics: This course runs during the daytimes between 9-5 on Saturday and Sunday, and a half day Monday. Because this is a class format designed with the local queer naturalist community in mind, we are choosing not to personally host participants overnight and participants are free to find their own accomodations or commute from home, but we have booked a Hip Camp campsite at a friend's farm in Woodinville, WA where folks are able to camp if they wish. Because Tracking Evaluation locations may shift somewhat at last minute notice, we currently cannot confirm how far some of our daytime locations may be from this camp site, but will confirm closer to the date to people who sign up.

Our Evaluator and Lead Instructor for this course will be Marcus Reynerson, a friend and mentor of Pinar and So.

Marcus Reynerson (he/him)

Marcus is a naturalist, educator, facilitator, photographer and budding wannabe filmmaker. He has worked in wilderness education, outdoor leadership, and conservation for numerous organizations and communities across North America, Europe, and Africa. He is engaged in telling stories that bring to light and life, the complexity of humans living in the 21st century. Originally from the hardwoods of Kentucky, Marcus currently lives in the Snoqualmie Valley in Washington State, just east of Seattle. He is the Lead Instructor for an internationally renowned environmental leadership and naturalist training program for adults at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA, and is also an evaluator with Tracker Certification North America, the North American branch of Cybertracker Conservation, an organization dedicated to providing leading edge assessment and training in the art and science of wildlife tracking across the globe. Marcus is passionate about helping cultivate opportunity for folks who have typically not had access to wildlife tracking and naturalist spaces and is honored to be working with his dear friends and colleagues at Queer Nature for this event.

Assistants

Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd (they/ them) & Shimo Roden (she/they)

Additional Context:

Cybertracker evaluations are workshops that are run in a field-test format. This can be stressful for some people who do not like test taking, but we are hoping to offer a space for interested queer trackers to "get to know" the cybertracker evaluation format in an affinity space, since this can take some (but not all!) of the social and emotional pressure off that would otherwise be there in the Eval format open to the public.

Evaluations present the opportunity for you to be shown unique tracks and sign that are located in the field for you by expert trackers. Tracking evaluators and their assistants scout locations to find tracks and sign, then participants are brought through and asked to make educated guesses and form hypotheses about who made the tracks or sign. After answers are given and recorded, the evaluator and assistants debrief the tracks or sign with the whole group. So it is a format where we find tracks or sign, test our individual knowledge, and then debrief all together. It makes for some great learning!

One of our intentions with hosting this is that Cybertracker is an organization we are involved with, and it has been a significant part of our own learning journeys with tracking. We want to connect other queer folks to this resource.

Cybertracker is an international conservation organization with a compelling story. We encourage you to read about them here.

Cybertracker is currently the premier certifying body for competence and excellence in wildlife tracking and trailing globally.

Track & Sign Training & Eval for 2SLGBTQ+