8/3/2019 Intro to Wildlife Tracking - WFB 013 JE1 - Course Syllabus

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Intro to Wildlife Tracking

Course Syllabus

Title : FOR / WFB 013 – Intro to Wildlife Tracking

Credits:  1Instructor: Michael Kessler

Meeting dates and times: 

Course meets on four ½ days on Saturdays during fall or spring semester; weeknights during summer session.

Location: UVM Jericho Research Forest, 127 Tarbox Road, Jericho, Vermont 05465

Course Description: 

This is an outdoor course oriented to the student‘s immediate application of classroom knowledge in a

wilderness setting. It is designed to launch the student upon a lifelong journey of reading the stories that arewritten in the earth with each passing day. Successive aspects of track and soil mechanics are introduced andthen reinforced and complimented by field experience in the UVM Jericho Research Forest. Students willreceive tools to enhance their awareness of the presence of wildlife through their tracks, to classify and identifytracks by species and, in the process, learn as much about themselves as the landscape and creatures they aretracking.

Goals: 

1. Open the huge novel that is left every time a foot hits the ground  – the disturbances to the naturalbaseline, the source of the disturbances, and the creature‘s interaction with the earth. 

2. Synthesize the students‘ collection of skills that have been learned in the natural sciences, life sciences,

and humanities at the University of Vermont through their application to tracking.3. Kindle a more intimate relationship with the earth and deeper connection to the global community.

Learning Outcomes: 

1. To see and read the landscape as a continuum of dynamic and static forces—as a new page in amanuscript that is written upon each day.

2. To understand how tracks originate in the earth.3. To expand one‘s awareness of the presence of wildlife through their tracks.4. To identify tracks by species in different soil types and conditions over time.

General Course Information

Course Policies: 

Prior experience – There are no prerequisites for this course and it does not assume nor require that thestudent have any background, experience, or education in tracking. Students are simply asked to exhibitan open mind, positive attitude, thirst for knowledge, and respect for others. Anyone can become atracker.

Level of Instruction – This course is a general introduction to the study of tracks. However, the level ofinstruction will be varied to each person‘s level of skill. Both the beginner and the expert tracker will be

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- 2 -fully engaged simply by varying the difficulty of soil type upon which one is instructed, for example softmud as opposed to ice, pine needles or rock. Assessment of individual competency is not based upon thestudent‘s level of tracking success (which takes time to develop), but rather on their ability to progress based upon what they have learned.

Preparation and Participation – One to two hour excursions from the onsite heated classroom will requirehiking in the hills of the research forest in seasonable weather. Students are expected to dressaccordingly and provide for their own specific needs, e.g. food, hydration etc. There are no breaks for cellphone use as one contiguous span of focused learning time is required.

Transportation – Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the Jericho ResearchForest and are strongly encouraged to share rides.

Instructor Communications – The UVM Blackboard online learning system and the Banner Student system arethe two modes of instructor communication for this course. Students are responsible for using the Blackboardsystem and also for receiving messages sent to their UVM email account and/or insuring that their UVM emailaccount is setup to forward messages accordingly.

Attendance Expectations: Attendance is expected at all classes. Opportunities to makeup a missed class may be afforded, but aredependent upon instructor‘s availability. 

Religious observances will be respected with opportunities to make up a missed class. Notification to theinstructor is required at the first class.

Contributions in Class: Everyone is expected to participate in both the classroom and the field exercises and to provide for theirindividual comfort and care as weather dictates. As important, everyone is expected to be a respectful andengaged listener to their colleagues and instructor.

Academic Honesty & Professionalism: Everyone is expected to understand and follow all University of Vermont policies and regulations.

Required and/or recommended readings: 

Recommended reading:

Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks (Peterson Field Guides Series) Mark Elbroch, Olaus J. Murie, Olaus J. Murie (Illustrator), Mark Elbroch(Illustrator)

FROM B&N

 

Animal Tracking Basics, by Jon Youngand Tiffany Morgan

Pub. Date: February 2007Publisher: Stackpole BooksFormat: Paperback, 304ppSales Rank: 215,453ISBN-13: 9780811733267

ISBN: 0811733262

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Format: Paperback Pub. Date: November 2005

Online Price: $19.95

Members Pay: $17.95 Join Now 

Usually ships within 2-3 days

Used Copies Available from our Authorized Sellers 

Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks andSign 

Paul Rezendes 

Format: Paperback2nd Edition Pub. Date: March 1999

FROM B&N

 Online Price: $25.00

Members Pay: $22.50 Join Now 

ISBN13: 9780062735249

ISBN: 0062735241

BINC: 5701617

Edition: Illustrated

Electronic Submissions/Internet Use: The UVM Blackboard online learning system is used for all course announcements, access to course materials,and submissions of work, namely the student‘s personal reflection journals. (See ―Instructor Communications‖ inCourse Policies above.)

Student Evaluation/Assessment

Grading: The overall class grade is a summation of the following:

20% Attendance and participation10% 1

stJournal Assignment

10% 2nd

Journal Assignment10% 3

rdJournal Assignment

20% Independent project10% 4

thJournal Assignment

20% Final Reflection Paper100%

Format for Expected Work: Materials provided by instructor:

UVM bandana (to be used as a blindfold)

Red pencils and regular #2 pencils Drawing paper

Colored popsicle sticks

Clear transparencies

Red and black dry erase markers

Scoring Rubrics: The following rubric is used to score these components of the students overall grade:

Class participation

Independent project

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Final Reflection Paper

Grade

F D C B A

Vision&

Observation

No attempt toread landscape

or see thenatural baseline

Unable to seedisturbances

within the naturalbaseline of earth

Able to see trackdisturbances to

the baseline

Able to see trackcompression

within thedisturbances

Able to see trackproper within the

trackcompressions

Awareness&

Inquiry

No recording ofobservations 

Observationsmade but noevidence offurther inquiry

Observationsmade andevidence offurther inquiry

Observationssufficient topromote furtherinquiry andhypothesis

Observationslead to discoveryof newknowledge 

Identificationof Tracks

No partial ID oftrack or trackcharacteristics

Partial ID oftrack family  characteristics

Positive ID oftrack family  

Partial ID oftrack species  

Positive ID oftrack species  

Percentage Contribution of Each Assignment: See ―Grading‖ above. No other graded assignments.

Instructional Sequence: 

1st

Section – “The Eye of the Tracker” Thoreau imparted that ‗the universe is wider than our view of it‘. In this first session participants learn how toincreasingly widen their view of the natural world. Increased awareness of all things and increased ability to seeand sense both the majestic and the minute are the main objective, so that a ‗track‘ becomes a ‗disturbance to abaseline‘. 

Introduction

o A ‗track‘ as a ‘disturbance to a baseline’  o Clearing away what is between the tracker and the earth that inhibits our visiono The abundance of partial tracks and trails that do not endo The Wisdom of the Marks

The interplay of peripheral vision and tunnel vision for reading the landscapeo Landscape tracking, the widest viewo Discovering the natural baseline of the landscapeo A ‘trail’ as a disturbance to the baseline of the overall landscape

2nd

Section – “The Mind of the Tracker” The symbiotic processes of artistic creativity and scientific inquiry are discussed and applied to tracking. Thepower of ‗questioning‘ is explored. A developing harmonic among the left- and right-brain is nurtured andintegrated within the tracking process to increase the participant‘s speed and ability to ‗scan horizontally and

probe vertically‘. 

Introductiono The active mind and the still mindo The logical and the imaginative mindo The investigative power of formulating questions

The interplay of the active mind and the still mind for reading the landscapeo Integrating and synthesizing our peripheral and tunnel vision and our logical and imaginative

mindo A track ‘ compression ’ as a disturbance to the baseline of the overall trail

3rd

Section – “The Attitude of the Tracker” 

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- 5 -What happens when the next track cannot be found? This is the tracker‘s ‗wall‘ and place of greatest potentiallearning. It is a place where personal choice defines both the journey and the tracker, themselves.

Introductiono What happens when we cannot find the next track… the tracker‘s ―wall‖ o The power of choice

The interplay of the eye‘s vision and the mind‘s thoughts o

The zero-dirt tracking box and how the track is formed by the eartho A ‘track’ as a disturbance to the baseline of the overall track compressiono Discovering the ‗true‘ track within each track compression

4th

Section – “The Heart of the Tracker” This last session focuses on the participant‘s continued development along their tracking journey where nature,herself, becomes their greatest teacher. The need to simultaneously track both one‘s inner - and outer-landscapes becomes all important. Ultimately, one‘s tracking is guided by one‘s awareness and vice versa. It ishere that the art of tracking emerges and becomes a true extension of self.

Introductiono Forward tracking vs. back trackingo The disposition of the tracker in relation to the creatures being tracked

The interplay of tracking apart from , and tracking as a part of , the web of lifeo  The impact of one‘s intent when tracking o The relationship of tracks to trails, and trails to the wholeo  Reading groups of tracks as one ‗track‘ or ‗word‘ 

A ‘digit’ or ‘lobe’ as a disturbance to the true track

5th

Section – “The Awareness of the Tracker” 

Introductiono Moving beyond the track and trail to the rhythms of the foresto Track distortion as the ‗norm‘ and manifestation of life‘s influences upon the track itself

The interplay of tracking and awareness – where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its partso  Combining all that is present into a natural ‗baseline‘ o  Combining all the types of disturbances into a ‗deviation in the baseline‘ o Combining tracks into a trailo Combining trails into a webo  Combining the 4 elements into an ‗aging‘ o  Combining the 5 senses into a ‗whole‘ o Combining the ―eye‖, ―mind‖, ―attitude‖, ―heart‖ and ―awareness‖ of the tracker into the essence

of the master tracker where ―All the wisdom is in the last track.‖

Allowing your tracking to be guided by your awareness and vice versa.

Directions to the UVM Forest at Jericho at 127 Tarbox Road,

Jericho, VT:

1)From Burlington take I-89 South to exit 11 for Richmond, VT(the next exit after the Tafts Corners exit in Williston) 

2)Go left at stop sign at end of exit ramp and head west briefly

on Route 2 (you'll go back under 89 and come to a light)

3)Go right at light onto VT 117

4)Go 2.5 miles on 117 and take right onto Barber Farm Road 

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5)Go .4 miles and turn right onto Tarbox Road

6)Go .75 miles and bear right at the Jericho Research Forest

sign and drive a few hundred yards to end of road.