Naturalist to offer 2-day animal tracking workshop

LINCOLNVILLE – Local tracker Laura Sebastianelli will offer an intensive, two-day animal tracking workshop on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 22 and 23.

Sponsored by Coastal Mountains Land Trust, this weekend adventure will explore several of the organization’s preserves, offering an opportunity for nature study on conservation land throughout the midcoast area.

Although the wild animals themselves can be difficult to spot, their tracks and signs in the snow are not, revealing interactions and interconnections not readily visible in other seasons.

The snow-covered winter landscape provides a classroom for learning to observe and decipher the winter landscape to better understand the natural world around us.

Sebastianelli is an experienced naturalist and educator, and an accomplished animal tracker. She apprenticed with master tracker Paul Rezendes, and has conducted surveys in Maine’s North Woods on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation in search of the gray wolf.

She recently joined the Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center as adult program coordinator.

Her two-day program is cumulative, building on knowledge through the course of the weekend, so participants must be able to attend both days from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Group size is limited to 12, and the cost is $17 per person. Advance registration with Coastal Mountains Land Trust is necessary, with payment required to secure enrollment.

Participants should be in good physical condition and bring water, a bag lunch, appropriate clothing for a full day outdoors (layers are best for alternating periods of activity and observation), and snowshoes.

A small backpack-daypack is suggested, as are tape measure, pencil (pens freeze) and paper, and a small pad to kneel on during the workshop and-or to sit on during lunch in the field.

Ambitious participants can read and bring Rezendes’ book “Tracking and the Art of Seeing,” 2nd edition.

To register, or for more information about the Land Trust, this workshop, or other educational events sponsored by Coastal Mountains Land Trust, call 236-7091.