WERC is excited to be offering, in partership with the Wilderness Tracking School, an exciting opportunity to explore remote remote and beautiful backcountry, while learning first-hand about the ways of the gray wolf and the rest of their ecosystem. Expedition participants learn through immersion in this diverse landscape, as we discover and follow the tracks and sign of wolves and other wildlife on the edge of the largest designated wilderness area in the continential United States.

Guided by skilled tracking instructors from Wilderness Awareness School, participants learn first hand about using the skills of a tracker to understand the activities of wolves and their relationships with other parts of the landscape in which they live.

In the evening, staff from the Wolf Education and Research Center compliment field activities with information on wolf biology, current status and conservation of wolves in the western United States.

This program is ideal for both beginners and students with prior tracking experience. Beginners leave with a solid set of technical skills, while advanced students are able to apply their skills in a dynamic setting with mentoring from experienced instructors.

Each day we split into small field groups based on interest and experience. Then we head out into the field to search for, study, and follow the tracks and sign of wolves.

Participants also share in a remarkable community experience created during the expedition. Our days start and end at a comfortable basecamp. Evenings offer a chance to relax, enjoy good food, re-live stories of the day's adventures, play music, and enjoy the starry skies!

Tracking lures one on an amazing journey into the world of nature, and encourages participants to open all of senses to the subtle clues hidden everywhere. At Wilderness Awareness School, they teach tracking as an interpretive art--one that sharpens awareness of nature and deepens an understanding of the human place in the natural world.

Trackers speak a language which is based not only on a thorough knowledge of tracks, trails and sign, but also on a rich grounding in the natural history, anatomy, and behavior characteristics of animals and plant ecology. Their curriculum prepares trackers to continue exploration of the behavior and ecology of wildlife through tracking.

At The Wolf Tracking Expedition, they always strive to stay "one day behind" the wolves, so that participant's presence does not disturb the wolves' natural activities. However, under the skilled guidance of the expedition's instructors, participants in past years have almost always been able to see and experience a rich diversity of fresh wolf tracks and trails, and sign (including feeding sign and kill sites/carcasses, scat, hair, etc. and sometimes even signes of previous den activity) that a let us know of the wolves are active in that area, and allow us to feel their presence. Indeed, some years the wolves seem to want to make their presence known to us, through such actions as passing right through our camp at night, or doubling back and walking over our tracks later in the day!

Participants who originate from the Wolf Education and Research Center's membership can receive a $50 discount that is donated directly to the ongoing efforts of educating the public about Grey Wolves.

For more information about the Wolf Tracking Expedition:

Summer Wolf Tracking Expedition in Idaho
July 29-August 4, 1:30 p.m. Sun. - 4:30 p.m. Sat.
Backcountry, Idaho; Lead instructor David Moskowitz
$795 ($50 discount for WERC or Tracking Club members, see below)
Food and camping provided

Call to register: (425) 788-1301