Tracker Certification Course

This course is for all skill levels of nature enthusiast.  All participants will gain a deeper knowledge of tracking and trailing, develop new tools they can use and will get the opportunity to receive a certification level from one of, CyberTrackers North America, field instructors, Matt Nelson.

When: Sept 30th-Oct 2, 9am-3pm

Where: In and around the Traverse City area, exact locations (TBD) based on weather & tracking conditions. 

Tuition: $295

The Evaluation:
Content of the Weekend
Through this experience, you will develop and/or refine a
skillset for exploring the vast world of wildlife tracking. While
we always cover key fundamental themes, every tracking
experience is unique—we go where the tracks take us! Topics
that will likely be explored:
• Clear and Obscure Print Identification
• Sign Interpretation, Wildlife Behavior & Natural History
• Wildlife Physiology and Design
• Animal Movement & Track Pattern Interpretation
• Aging Tracks and Sign
• The Ecology & Natural History of the Local Landscape
• Wildlife Ecology, Interactions, & Roles within an Ecosystem 

No prior tracking experience is required to participate, but
preparation can be helpful for those for whom attaining a
certificate on their first evaluation is important. However, the
underlying impetus is not about receiving a certificate, but rather
the rich educational benefit the evaluation process provides.
Tracking skill accrues with experience, and evaluations are an
effective tool for rapidly increasing one’s ability and measuring
progress over time.

About Matt:
From the Arctic to the Antarctic, this simple traveler has left
footprints in search of authenticity in his life. Slow to learn and
insistent on the hardest of life’s lessons, he’s a generalist in the
true sense of the word. Easily bored, Matt has worked more jobs
than can be listed here, searching for himself amid all the
glittery promises of the materialistic culture he grew up in.
A lifetime hunter and woodsman, Matt strives to share his deep
observations and his love for all things wild and true freely
amongst his human interactions and in his teaching and has
sought out mentors and learning opportunities in many corners
of this earth.
Matt is a graduate of the Wilderness Guide Program, a 12-month
wilderness immersion program at the Teaching Drum Outdoor
School, with whom he maintains a close relationship and
collaborates with to this day.  

​Matt holds a Senior Tracker certificate from Cybertracker

Conservation, is a track and sign evaluator with the same

organization, continuing the work of keeping animal tracking
alive and valued in our modern age. 
​Matt has worked on numerous wildlife and research projects,
including the Gualala River Watershed council, the
Garfield/Mesa Lion project, and the East Bay Puma Project. He
currently resides in northern Wisconsin.