SoCal
Tracking
The San Diego Tracking Team Presents
Wildlife Tracking Training
and Certifications
Thurs/Fri: April 25-26, 2024 (WAITING LIST)
Sat/Sun: April 27-28, 2024 (WAITING LIST)
The San Diego Tracking Team invites you to participate in one of two Wildlife Track and Sign workshops being conducted in San Diego. This two-day field experience is a fun, participative workshop with an emphasis on learning to identify animal track and sign by looking at real tracks we find across the landscape and discussing exactly how to identify them.
Limited to only eleven participants, we’re bringing in one of the top tracking instructors and evaluators in the United States, Marcus Reynerson, a highly experienced Track and Sign Specialist and a gentle, wonderful teacher and mentor. In the photo on the right (or below if you're reading on a phone), Marcus points out gray fox track diagnostic field marks.
The training emphasizes the development of reliable field skills to recognize tracks and identify the animal's behavior. No prior tracking is required to participate but preparation and prior experience is extremely helpful for those for whom obtaining a certificate is important. The underlying impetus, however, lies in the rich educational benefit for all participants.
When is the last time you've had the experience of seeing animal tracks and wondered what animal was there? Was it a dog or a mountain lion? A bobcat or a fox? Where was it going? What was it doing.... and where is it now?
If you would like to have the skill to be able to see and interpret wild animal sign that is invisible to "normal people", we invite you to participate in this one-of-a-kind immersive field training.
This two-full-day field experience will immerse you in the art and skill of reading the hidden stories of animals by examining the clues they leave across the landscape. You'll discover how see and interpret animal behavior that was previously "invisible" to you.
THE WILDLIFE TRACKING
EDUCATION AND
CERTIFICATION PROCESS
Who is Tracker Certification of North America?
What is the CyberTracker training process?
What is this immersive training you call an "eval" (evaluation)? Click this link for the answers: https://trackercertification.com/storymap/
The entire weekend consists of field training. Our classroom is the outdoors. Our teachers are the animals themselves. Our instructor finds animal track and sign, then a dialogue ensues between the instructor and participants to provide the opportunity for everyone involved to internalize field marks and interpret wildlife behavior. The learning retention is unparalleled.
The training emphasizes the development of reliable field skills. No prior training is required to participate. The less you know, the more more you will learn.
More about the instructor: https://trackercertification.com/evaluators/
What to Expect
Two Full Days of Hands-on Track and Sign Field Training
Workshop Leader Marcus Reynerson
Marcus Reynerson has worked in wilderness education, outdoor leadership and conservation for numerous organizations and communities across North America and Europe. Marcus lives in the Snoqualmie Valley in Washington State, just east of Seattle, where he has called home the last 17 years. He is the Lead Instructor for an internationally renowned environmental leadership immersion program for adults at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA.
For more information about this workshop and the Tracking Certification North America tracking education, training and certification process, click:
https://trackercertification.com/storymap/
"An Amazing Experience"
“Tracking with Marcus is an amazing experience because it is so much more than walking around looking for tracks. Marcus knows how to look at a the landscape with acute awareness, knowing exactly where the animals have gone and the certain behaviors one might see. Watching him work will inspire anyone to become a wildlife tracker, to learn about the natural world in a unique way."
- Rachel Bishop, WRI Community Education Lead
Registration/Tuition
SAN DIEGO TRACKING TEAM MEMBERS: The tuition for the 2-day workshop for SDTT (San Diego Tracking Team) members and volunteers is $325. NON-SDTT-MEMBERS: Tuition: $360.
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT (EXPIRES DEC 31, 2023) Pay in full upon registration for $325.
REGISTRATION: $150 to register holds your spot; balance due February 1. Deposits are refundable if you or we find someone to take your place. We are maintaining a wait list. Let us know if you would like to be placed on a wait list and for which program.
TO REGISTER: BEFORE YOU REGISTER, TEXT OR EMAIL TERRY HUNEFELD TO ENSURE THERE IS STILL A SPOT AVAILABLE. Then, pay with VENMO or PAYPAL then email the SDTT CyberTracker Training Coordinator, Terry Hunefeld who will get you registered. YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED UNTIL YOU HAVE RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION FROM TERRY thunefeld (AT) gmail.com. You may call or text Terry at 760-908-345(three).
VENMO: SanDiego-TrackingTeam (final 4 of phone number 4102).
PAYPAL: SDTT92150 CONFIRM WITH TERY HUNEFELD THAT SPACE IS AVAILABLE FIRST!
Send an email to Terry Hunefeld at thunefeld (AT ) gmail.com with (1) the date of the session for which you're registering (2) your phone number and (3) how you paid (venmo or paypal) so we can credit your account. Payment by check can be arranged if absolutely necessary but Venmo is preferred and PayPal second preferred because we are all SDTT volunteers. Checks are a hassle for volunteer groups. Electronic payment makes it easier for everyone and creates a permanent and easily-accessible record.
FREE PREP DAY: Members of the San Diego Tracking Team will conduct a free "prep day" the day preceding each of the events to get your "eyes" accustomed to our tracks and sign here in San Diego. Time and location to be determined (probably 8am to 2pm).
FREE ZOOM TRAININGS: Terry and members of the San Diego Tracking Team will hold twice-monthly one-hour Zoom Trainings to familiarize you with animal tracks and signs of San Diego County. Sessions will begin in December and are available to all registrants.
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM: If you're involved in wildlife conservation and cannot afford the full amount, the SDTT offers a Scholarship Program. We will consider these requests on a case-case basis. To find out if you qualify, contact our training workshop coordinator, Terry Hunefeld.
"Learning to interpret animal track and
sign is like wearing magic glasses...
you can see exactly what the animal was doing."
The San Diego
Tracking Team
The San Diego Tracking Team (SDTT) is dedicated to preserving wildlife habitat in the San Diego region through citizen-based wildlife monitoring and environmental education programs.
Since 1996 the SDTT has conducted wildlife track and sign surveys and trainings to evaluate the health of key species,
At least annually we contract with Tracker Certification of North America to conduct 2-day certification workshops for our members and the public because they are the most powerful wildlife trainings available anywhere in the world - designed to equip participants with real-life tracking and wild-life interpretation skills. No matter what your experience level, you will benefit enormously from this training.
LOCATIONS
TRAINING LOCATIONS: The trainings will be held somewhere in San Diego County. Past trainings have taken place from the Anza Borrego Desert to coastal San Diego. Locations have taken places under bridges on “The 5” freeway near Carmel Valley, the Scripps-Poway Wildlife Tunnel, Lake Morena (southeast San Diego County), Scissor’s Crossing between Julian and Borrego Springs, Warner Springs (eastern north county), Borderfield State Park (at the Mexico Border below the wall, southwest San Diego County), etc. In other words, wherever the evaluator, after a day or two of scouting, believes will yield us the best tracking experience is where we will hold the evals.
ACCOMMODATIONS: In light of the fact that the trainings (and prep days) could be held anywhere in the county – from the beach to the desert – a favored location to stay is La Mesa, located right on “The 8” freeway. La Mesa has many hotels, motels and AirBnBs of all price ranges. La Mesa is a straight shot to almost anywhere in the county: the coast, the mountains, the desert.
CAMPING: If you prefer to camp, past participants of San Diego evals have used Camp Jennings Campground, just off “The 8” freeway a few miles east of La Mesa. https://lakejennings.org/see-and-do/camping/. Anza Borrego Desert State Park and the town of Borrego Springs (home to many of the Anza Borrego Tracking Team members) have a whole range of camping options: https://www.litaofthepack.com/camping-in-anza-borrego/.