An Introduction
I was first introduced to wildlife tracking while working as a park naturalist and interpretive ranger in Algonquin Park, in my home province of Ontario, Canada. I moved to Vermont in 2011 to earn my Master's degree in the UVM Field Naturalist Program, and it was in New England that I met a community of wildlife trackers taking part in track and sign certifications and undertaking long-term tracking studies.
.jpg)
I took a year-long tracking apprenticeship program with White Pine Programs and, with motivation to get outside every week and an understanding of where to look, I uncovered story upon story of the wildlife living right in my backyard, within a half mile of the busiest road intersection in Vermont.
I initiated the Burlington Mammal Tracking Project to document large mammal habitat and corridors in the state's most urban region, engaged community volunteers to submit wildlife sightings and tracking reports, trained groups of college seniors to deploy fleets of trail cameras, and took every opportunity possible to follow the trails of fishers, bobcats and coyotes to understand their use of fragmented open space.
That project is ongoing on iNaturalist, though I now live in Jeffersonville VT, where I direct a wildlife tracking program for the nonprofit Cold Hollow to Canada. I also spent two years in Seattle (2019-2021), where I worked with Conservation Northwest's Community Wildlife Monitoring Project in the Central Cascades and documented urban wildlife for Seattle's Urban Carnivore Project.
I've served on the planning committee for the annual Northeast Wildlife Trackers Conference for several years, and when the COVID pandemic made us move to a fully-online conference format for 2020, I realized there's great opportunity to connect wildlife enthusiasts and trackers of all skill levels through various online formats. This platform has since expanded to house my in-person programs and consulting services in addition to online courses and workshops.
Tracking Connection aims to offer resources, services and programming to connect you more deeply to the world of wildlife tracking—and to inform protection of wildlife habitat, raising awareness of the needs of wild species who don't have a voice in land management and development decisions. I hope you can find new ways to engage your curiosity about the natural world and fresh motivation to get outside, pay attention, and connect with your wild neighbors.
