Reading the Story of the Land: Tracks,
Sign & Wildlife Tracking in Practice
Leader: Alexis Burnett
Reading the Story of the Land: Tracks, Sign &
Wildlife Tracking in Practice
This field-based workshop offers an immersive introduction to the art and science of wildlife tracking. Designed for beginners and intermediate participants, it will guide you through observing, identifying, and interpreting tracks and sign on the landscape.
Together, we will explore how to recognize and identify tracks through foot morphology and track characteristics, as well as track patterns and gait (how the animals are moving). We will also expand beyond footprints to include the wider language of the land — feeding sign, scat, scent marking, beds, trails, and other subtle indicators of animal presence.
A central focus is learning to read the story behind the tracks. Participants will be introduced to both systematic and speculative tracking — asking questions, forming hypotheses, and interpreting animal movement and behavior through the clues left behind.
Guided through a blend of direct instruction, observation, and inquiry-based learning, participants will begin to develop their own tracking process in the field.
SPECIAL FREE PRESENTATION:
On the Trail of the Canada Lynx in Central Ontario: The Story of our Week Tracking These Animals and Other Wildlife of the North Woods.
Tuition: $55
Date/Time: September 4 9am - 1pm
Register for September 4 here
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Date/Time : September 7 9am - 1pm
Register for September 7 here
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RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
Meeting Spot: Meet Alexis in the Lodge Dining Room at 8:45am
Maximum Participants: 10 per workshop
Location: The Eel River & Redwood Forest
Alexis Burnett
Earth Tracks
Alexis Burnett is a naturalist, wildlife tracker, and nature-based educator located in Grey County, Ontario, on the traditional lands of the Three Fires Confederacy. He is the founder and lead instructor of Earth Tracks Outdoor School, where he has spent more than 25 years mentoring both children and adults in wildlife tracking, ecological awareness, and land-based skills.
His work integrates both systematic and speculative approaches to tracking, rooted in tracking and awareness as a way of reading the stories of the land. Through careful attention to track morphology, gait patterns, and sign, alongside intuitive awareness and pattern recognition, Alexis teaches students to move beyond identification and into a deeper understanding of animal behaviour, relationships, and the wider ecological context in which those stories unfold.
Tracking, in this sense, becomes both a discipline and a form of listening—an ongoing process of gathering evidence, asking questions, and allowing the story to emerge over time. Alexis supports students in developing the ability to move fluidly between detailed observation and broader awareness, where interpretation is grounded in both what is seen and what is sensed.
Through Earth Tracks, Alexis leads one-day and weekend workshops, apprenticeship programs, and extended wilderness trips. He has been leading a week-long tracking program in Algonquin for over 26 years and guides an annual Lynx tracking trip each January in central Ontario.
His teaching is grounded in land-based learning and deep nature connection, drawing on a wide range of complementary practices including edible and medicinal plants, herbalism, bird language, bushcraft and wilderness living skills. Alexis continues to work with many First Nations communities in Ontario and beyond.
Philosophy
“The Earth is the ultimate provider and for countless generations our ancestors knew how to survive and live in harmony with nature. By learning and practicing these skills we begin to experience nature in an ancient and meaningful way.”
– Alexis Burnett
Alexis holds a Professional Level Track and Sign Certification through CyberTracker North America and has studied with wildlife trackers across North America. He is also a founding organizer of the Heartwood Gathering.
