2025-26 Immersion Program
Burlington-area Immersion Program 2025-2026 is now underway
Field Dates: Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
November 15, December 13, January 17, February 14, March 14, April 11
Please hold the Sunday of each weekend as a back-up date in case of bad weather
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Locations throughout Chittenden County (up to 30 minutes drive away from Burlington). Each session will take advantage of what the current weather and snow conditions have to offer, with the meeting location announced 1-2 days prior.
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Online Classroom Component:
Two recorded presentations provided, to watch on your own time,
followed by an evening Zoom session for extensions and Q&A.
Wednesdays December 10 & January 14
7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Recordings provided for anyone who cannot attend in real time
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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.
New in 2026: Two Program Options
Attend all sessions described above.
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Optional assignments to extend your learning between sessions.
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Registration Cost: $575
Primary Track
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Advanced Track
For participants prepared to spend additional time in between our sessions (~20 hours) on a series of assignments and field exercises.​
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Includes three 1-on-1 check-ins by phone or Zoom (45 minutes) to discuss your progress and answer questions.
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Receive written feedback on your field assignments.
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Certificate upon completion.
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Registration Cost: $825
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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.​​​​​
Meet the Instructor:
​Sophie Mazowita is a certified Track & Sign Specialist and wildlife guide based in Jeffersonville, 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.