Winter nature education starts in fourth grade
February 11, 2001

Winter-eyes, the fourth-grade winter educational program at Woodland Dunes Nature Center, will feature tracking as one of the sessions.

In preparation for the program, teacher naturalists and other interested people attended a tracking workshop at Woodland Dunes Marsh Haus last Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hanratty were the visiting experts, associated with Nature Education Programs, Ltd of Lisle, IL. This organization presents wilderness skills, workshops under the title Medicine Hawk Wilderness Skills and Animal Tracking. Tom Hanratty is a head instructor for these sessions.

Hanratty received his training at Tom Brown's Tracking and Wilderness Survival School where he and his wife have attended numerous advanced classes. The school is located on a farm in the western part of New Jersey near the small town of Asbury, on the Muscanetcong River. These details are given just in case someone wants to check the school's web site and become further and deeply involved in the fascinating subject of tracking and wilderness survival skills.

After the session one can only want to learn more of the art of "reading" animal signs. A brochure describing the animal tracking workshop states: "In the animal tracking workshop you will learn to identify the prints and gaits of local mammals, as well as the signs that they leave as they live and move in the natural world...that will enhance your identification of and with the animal you are tracking."

Tom Brown has written a number of books on the subjects related to learning about nature. Tom Hanratty is the author of a very readable book of 84 pages entitled "Tracking Man and Beast." It will be available at the Woodland Dunes Nature Shoppe at the Nature Center.

Perhaps the most satisfactory result of the workshop was Tom Hanratty's notice and approval of the tracking displays that have been put up by the "Dunes" Nature Center in anticipation of the Winter-eyes program.

Youngsters will also be taught the four basic gaits and gait patterns of animals, diagonal walkers, gallopers, bounders and pacers indoors and then take the learning out into the surrounding area to see what the wildlife that visits may be doing or where they are going.

Tom Hanratty also showed slides of the value of tracking and reading signs to aid in police work. Eyes that are trained to see the obscure details on the nature trail have also been used to track criminals.

By delving into the science one can intuitively know the size, health, and mood of an animal or human by reading the tracks.

Tom Brown's aim is to have students be able to trail a mouse across a gravel driveway...at Woodland Dunes students will have a chance to learn and try out these skills.