WILDLIFE TRACKING

Jim Sullivan is a 4th generation Sonoma county native, lifetime naturalist, with a degree in biology. He graduated from Notre Dame, studied in Vienna, UC Santa Barbara and S.F. State, as well as ongoing studies at SRJC. A Long time environmental and social justice activist, he served 4 years in the infantry and was instrumental in launching the natural foods movement. He is a national award winning Plein Air artist.

Richard Vacha has been studying tracking since he was a Cub Scout. He attended Tom Brown’s Tracking School and Jon Young’s Integral Awareness Series. Out of that the Marin Tracking Club was born; it has been meeting every month since its founding three years ago. Richard writes a monthly column on tracking for the West Marin Citizen. He lectures on the subject and leads tracking walks for Point Reyes Field Seminars and for private groups.

Why Tracking? By Jim Sullivan

Recreational tracking as it is developing today is derived from the traditional food gathering techniques of original people everywhere. In this country, as popularized by Tom Brown, it is derived largely from the Apache scout traditions of the Southwest, with contributions from many other traditional and modern sources.

As recreational trackers, we employ the techniques of traditional trackers to develop

a deep understanding of animal life and of the environment they live in. Most animals are nocturnal and seldom seen. But by studying tracks we come to understand much about their lives. Trackers speak of getting inside the minds of animals. We teach ourselves to read tracks in much the same way we read a novel: our minds learn to generate an animated picture of the animal world, moving backward and forward in time, just as we do in a novel. We can almost live in that world, just as we almost live in a good novel.

Bringing The World to Light by Richard Vacha

"Tracking is about bringing the world to light. It's about reanimating the world so that we're not just blind tourists out on a hike, moving fast through it, loving it all and thinking it's beautiful, but not really knowing what's going on there. You move slowly and quietly so that you're not chasing everything away. Otherwise, the only view of the animal you're going to see is its rear as it's running away from you."

TRACKING TOURS at Chanslor Ranch and in adjoining Sonoma Coast State Park

Introduction to Local Animal Tracking

Reviews the basics: ID, gaits, scat, sign, bird language, etc; slowing down, sensory awareness, grounding, attitude of gratitude; three ways to see, “getting inside the animal mind”, close and wide observation; narrative construction and more.

2 hrs: $65/person, $50 two or more

Animation Tracking

This is basically the same material as Introduction, but expanded over a three hour format to go deeper, to introduce more perspective from biology, and to look more deeply at the Art of Tracking itself, both from a traditional point of view and from the cognitive sciences. Tracking

enables you to animate your understanding of Nature.

3 hrs: $80/person, $70 two or more

Species Hikes

This involves us going tracking together with the theme of studying some particular species. We go to one or more habitats where I’ve found sign, tree scratches, scat, foraging, and in some cases tracks and sightings. We will be looking at food chain, talk about animal ranges, bird language, narrative construction and, of course, follow up on any interests of yours.

From 3 hrs at $80/person to a day at $220