WELCOME TO EARTH SKILLS… YOUR CONNECTION TO NATURE!
Since 1987, Earth Skills has connected people to nature in deeper ways with a constant focus on creative and effective learning techniques - especially in wildlife tracking, plant uses, wilderness skills, indigenous traditions, and earth philosophy. Today, connecting in traditional ways with our planet is essential.
YOUR PORTAL INTO NATURE
On this site, we share methods, resources, facts and inspiration to build and deepen your relationship with the natural world.
Through stories, exercises you can do on your own, and skills everyone can learn, these are now available for you to download or participate in. They include books and monographs, videos, webinar recordings, stories and examples as well as scheduled on-line and in-person workshops. Whether you are new to the outdoors or a veteran wildlife professional, we offer materials and experiences which you can learn from, practice on your own, and use to empower your connection to nature.
WALK WITH THE ANIMAL
In this special new section of our site you will discover Animal Tracking that is Intuitive and Connected.
For decades Jim and Mary sought to weave intuitive tracking, with its ancient roots among indigenous trackers, into the skill set of modern trackers as a rich addendum to ‘technical tracking’. WALK WITH THE ANIMAL is an invitation to explore the principles and methods evolving from their extensive field work in this area.
ACCESS TO TRACKING RESOURCES
We have committed ourselves to offering you the greatest depth and breadth of tracking information.
OPEN THE DOOR by learning and practicing track identification methods and applying awareness skills.
EXPAND YOUR SKILLS by visualizing animal movement in tracks, learning biology and behavior, and following trails.
DEEPEN YOUR SKILLS by applying intuitive skills and learning to become a part of the environment that you are tracking in.
THE TRACKER’S FIELD GUIDE - 3rd edition
“The Tracker's Field Guide is a truly helpful work of art! Gratitude to Jim Lowery for his user friendly and inviting presentation of the complex and magical world of tracking and connecting to the natural world."
- Jon Young, Author of *What the Robin Knows* 8 Shields Institute
PRINTED BOOK VERSIONS
Any tracker encountering a fresh trail is tantalized by the prospect of following it to enter the animal's world. How can this be done? How is it possible to follow a trail across difficult terrain? To keep on the trail of even a mouse? To follow a trail that is weeks old?
Veteran tracking instructor Jim Lowery spent two and a half years perfecting practical and intuitive methods for trailing animals, and then fine-tuned these by working with Earth Skills students to record their own experiences and wisdom about this deep subject. The results are shared with you, the novice to experienced tracker, through methods, assignments and stories that will open the door to “walking with the animal.” These two companion guides are available in either printed or digital versions.
WALK WITH THE ANIMAL: The secrets of successful trailing, Jim shares, reside in one’s initial contact with the trail as well as in one’s mental attitude. Techniques are discussed for “Making Contact with the Trail” and maintaining that contact. When the trail is temporarily lost at “the wall” - a given for almost every trail - methods to move beyond it are described and illustrated with 30 case studies. In Jim’s field study which included trailing animals from large to very small, and trails that were minutes to weeks old, practical and intuitive techniques were equally important, each used almost exactly half of the time. The intuitive methods, which are described in concise and useful terms, make an especially valuable contribution to trackers’ repertoires.
HOW TO WALK WITH THE ANIMAL: From working with thousands of tracking students, we know that each tracker brings unique perspectives and approaches to the art, so we spent five years honing the trailing methods described above in walk-with-the-animal workshops, watching, listening and experimenting as we established their accessibility and value for any tracker. This volume presents more detail about how to learn to “walk with the animal”, from students’ perspectives accompanied by many stories.
These are printed versions of the compact 6” x 9” books; For the Digital Version CLICK HERE.
PRINTED VERSIONS: $20.00