2024-25 Immersion Programs
Burlington-area Immersion Program starts November 16, 2024 - details below
Cold Hollow to Canada (CHC) Immersion Program starts November 10, 2024 - link
New! Tuesday afternoon CHC program starts January 7, 2025 - link
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Check back for additional program dates
Field Dates: Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
November 16, December 14, January 18, February 15, March 15, April 12
Please hold the Sunday of each weekend as a back-up date in case of bad weather
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Online Classroom Component: Two evening Zoom sessions
Wednesdays December 4 & January 8
7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Recordings provided for anyone who cannot attend in real time
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Registration Cost: $550​​​​​​​
Wildlife Tracking Immersion Program
Looking to deepen your connection to wildlife this winter?
Join a small group for six field days in the greater Burlington area.
Learn to read the tracks and sign of your wild neighbors through this six-month program, open to adults of any experience level.
Topics covered:
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Print Identification: We will practice track ID of both clear and obscure prints, learning the "field marks" for quick recognition, plus strategies for analyzing tricky tracks.
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Track Patterns and Animal Movement: Reading track patterns and translating them into how the animal was moving unlocks our ability to visualize the animal that left the tracks. Was the animal relaxed or fleeing? Were they walking, trotting, bounding, loping or galloping? We will learn the "baseline" movement of our local species and how to recognize changes.
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Winter Trailing and Wildlife Ecology: Winter snow offers an unparalleled opportunity to follow trails and read the story of how each animal interacts with their local environment. Whenever conditions allow for it, our winter tracking days will be based around following carnivore trails, reading their behavior, and looking for other wildlife sign along the way.
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Animal Sign and Marking Behavior: Feeding sign; dens, beds and lays; scat and territorial marking. As we learn to recognize these signs, the woods light up with activity in all seasons. We will spend ample time investigating the world of wildlife sign and developing our eye for how and where to look.
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Program Details:
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Field sessions will take place in Burlington and the surrounding area (up to 30 minutes drive away, with carpooling options). Each session will take advantage of what the current weather and snow conditions have to offer, with locations determined a few days prior.
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There will be optional "homework" assignments over the six-month program for those looking to extend their learning.​​​​​
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Meet the Instructor:
​Sophie Mazowita is a certified Track & Sign Specialist and wildlife guide based in Fletcher, Vermont. She started her wildlife tracking journey while working as a park ranger in Algonquin Park, Ontario, then moved to Vermont to complete a Master's degree in the UVM Field Naturalist Program. Since graduation, she has studied tracking intensively with experts in New England, the Pacific Northwest, and South Africa. She initiated the Burlington VT Mammal Tracking Project in 2015 and has taught tracking workshops for dozens of groups including Green Mountain Audubon, North Branch Nature Center, the Vermont Master Naturalist Program, Champlain College, and UVM. Currently she offers tracking education and consulting services through Tracking Connection, and she also guides week-long wildlife trips to Yellowstone and to Canada's polar bear country with Natural Habitat Adventures/WWF. At home in Vermont, her work focuses on identifying wildlife corridors and monitoring forest connectivity at a town and regional scale, and she manages the community science program for Cold Hollow to Canada.