Wildlife Associates
Presents
The Institute of Nature Awareness
Class Announcement for the 2005-2006 School Year

If you love nature and animals our classes and workshops will offer you a fun and unique way to explore your relationships with the natural world while deepening your understanding of the amazing bio-diversity of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Founded by Jon Young and Steve Karlin, the Institute of Nature Awareness (IONA) is a collaboration of some of the most esteemed organizations and teachers in the field who come from diverse academic and scientific backgrounds. Each instructor is dedicated to fostering a positive learning community and a balanced relationship with the natural world.

The Institute of Nature Awareness is a culmination of more than 25 years of hands-on teaching experience and offers new and ancient ways to learn. The core program includes weekend workshops and a nine-month intensive class format. Additional classes and workshops will be announced throughout the year.

Class Offering: Mentoring in the Art of Nature Awareness
Lead Instructor, Jon Young

The curriculum is offered in two formats:

1. Weekend Classes with Jon Young and other esteemed instructors are offered one weekend each month for nine months, starting in September. Each weekend workshop begins with a lecture Friday evening and includes field work on Saturday and Sunday, located within one hour's drive of San Francisco. Each workshop is both valuable by itself and complementary to each other when taken in series. Dates, workshop content and fee information is listed below.
2. Nine-Month Intensive is offered in trimesters. Classes are held Tuesday evenings, and all day and evening on Wednesdays and Thursdays. You can sign up for one ten-week trimester at a time, or for all three trimesters. Each trimester includes twenty class days and thirty class evenings. You can also take this intensive course in conjunction with the weekend workshops. In some cases students may earn college credit for their participation in these classes. Please find the dates and fee information below. There is a second year intensive curriculum for those who wish to continue their exploration of nature beyond the initial nine-month course.

All classes and workshops require pre-registration, For more information or to register, please call Wildlife Associates at 1-800-244-WILD or 650-712-0800, or email us at Info@WildlifeAssociates.org.

The Institute of Nature Awareness Student. . .
. . . is an adult who seeks in-depth knowledge of the natural world that is gained through a highly effective learning community. Students will find a rigorous training program of core disciplines that will provide structure and foundation and cultivate students' own innate curiosities and abilities to question. While engaging in college-level coursework, students gain a deeper understanding of their own sense of purpose and place in the world, which is inherent in the journey of holistic tracking and nature awareness.

Whether you are considering a career in conservation, are at a crossroads grappling with meaning and purpose in your life, want to explore your connection to nature, want to teach, or have a calling to walk the path of the holistic tracker, you will find a place and an unparalleled learning experience here at the Institute of Nature Awareness.

Program Tuition
Tuition varies according to format – Weekend Workshop, and Nine-Month Intensive.

WEEKEND CLASS TUITION:

Pre-paid tuition per trimester (three workshops): $450

Tuition per individual workshop: $200

NINE MONTH INTENSIVE TUITION:

Nine-Month Intensive training program is held in three 10-week trimester sessions, including 20 class days and 30 class evenings per trimester. Classes are held during the days on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and in the evenings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Pre-paid tuition of $ 2,700 for 1 trimester

Pre-paid tuition of $ 5,200 for 2 trimesters

Pre-paid tuition of $ 7,500 for all 3 trimesters

Registration
All classes and workshops require pre-registration, so please call Wildlife Associates at 1-800-244-WILD or 650-712-0800, or email us at Info@WildlifeAssociates.org.

INSTITUTE OF NATURE AWARENESS
NINE-MONTH INTENSIVE SERIES

"A gathering of the curious to share in the exploration and celebration of the natural world"

Course Content
Students of these unique educational courses will gain an in-depth, multi-dimensional and dynamic knowledge of an ecosystem and all of its elements through the practice of numerous core disciplines. Through the fun and adventurous study of field ecology, live animals, animal tracking, natural history, geography, learning strategies, state-of-the-art data collection, agro-forestry, organic gardening and applied permaculture techniques, teachings from indigenous cultures relating to nature awareness, and whole-body learning, students emerge from this nine-month program with an in-depth understanding of natural systems, and of themselves.

The Intensive-format class is mentored by a learning community where individual students are supported as they develop and expand their interrelationship with the living earth.

Course curriculum is facilitated by Jon Young and presented by renowned experts including Steve Karlin, Ken Clarkson, Penny Livingston-Stark, James Stark, Mark Tollefson, Sharon Buzcaczer, Paul Houghtaling, John Gallagher, Rusty Davis, Gilbert Walking Bull, Paul Raphael, Ned Conwell, Nicole Morgan, Mahealani Henry, Kalani Souza, Amado Hipol and others.

Class content and field work varies according to changing seasons and weather patterns as well as the interests that students bring to the program. Instructors use their own curriculum and integrate existing programs such as the Kamana Naturalist Training Program and the Shikari Tracker Training Program.

The combination of a disciplined, broad and creative curriculum produces a balanced approach to the study of nature awareness. Ultimately, students in the Institute of Nature Awareness will leave with the understanding of what it means to truly master a discipline. Each individual will acquire a wide array of transferable skills which they can take into any career or journey they choose. The skills include, but are not limited to:

• the ability to work in teams
• the ability to link spatial relationships with events over time
• the ability to develop and test sets of hypotheses
• an increased ability to think multi-dimensionally
• public speaking and presentation skills
• aptitude with technology such as GPS software and CyberTracker
• NatureMapping
• the art of mentoring
• leadership
• observation, tracking and awareness skills
• a greater understanding of animal & bird language
• the ability to communicate with animals
• the ability to observe, hypothesize and understand and animal behavior
• the ability to become familiar with the ecology of wherever one resides.

Some of the activities offered in the IONA 9-month intensive include:

• service projects and visits to local permaculture and organic gardening centers
• wild-crafting
• sensory awareness exercises
• conservation work
• habitat enhancement
• live animal observation and awareness classes at Wildlife Associates' wildlife sanctuary
• study of birds and their interrelationships with predators & habitat
• nature observation
• journaling
• animal and plant tracking and identification
• storytelling and campfires
• study of weather and tides
• group mapping
• debriefing
• cross-questioning
• small group presentations
• public presentations of findings and data
• use of CyberTracker and GPS software
• Nature Mapping and wildlife inventory
• individual reading
• sketching
• photography
• sit-spot observation

Animal Observation and Tracking
Working with Wildlife Associates in Half Moon Bay, California, students will gain unique one- of-a-kind insights and experience in tracking and animal behavioral studies. Classes are guided by animal behavior specialists along with a great diversity of wildlife such as live bobcats, foxes, raptors, porcupines, and many more. We explore the nature of awareness. Extensive and in-depth tracking is part of IONA's core curriculum and will take place in the staged tracking stations at the wildlife sanctuary and throughout the amazing array of coastal and inland habitats.

Data Collection
Data collected from track and sign during class is used to help local conservation agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Services. CyberTracker, GPS technology and remote camera installations provide data collection tools and opportunities for students to test hypotheses relating to wildlife behavior.

Permaculture
Beyond the practice of observation skills, students learn and apply permaculture techniques in various hands-on settings. Gardening, water and earth works, and other sensible approaches to land management are examined and studied. In these classes an awareness of place is woven tightly alongside the ability to live well with the land. Permaculture projects help both the students to learn and the land to flourish.

Routines of Awareness
The core academic teachings of the IONA 9-month intensive program is often presented as a series of repetitive core "Routines of Awareness" that may include sensory awareness exercises, bird language mapping, animal tracking, journaling, storytelling, small group presentations of data and findings and more.

These repeated activities help build understanding and familiarity that eventually allows students the ability to access deeper, more complex relationships with nature. For example, using "Routines of Awareness" allows students to move more easily from things like basic bird identification to a mastery of the ability to observe, inquire and hypothesize why a bird may be behaving in a certain way. The idea is that each level of familiarity and mastery leads to an even broader trail of discovery and awareness.

Through repetitive observation of wild ravens, students will become familiar with their calls. Once that call is identified as a raven's, students may ask: Why is the raven calling? What does the tone and body language indicate about the raven and its environment, in this moment? After repeated questioning and observations of the raven's intent, the observer may eventually be able to accurately predict that a large raptor such as a red-tailed hawk or golden eagle is approaching.

A Dynamic Learning Community

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." - Aristotle

Our instructors are world renown and possess an in-depth knowledge of their areas of expertise as well as exemplary teaching capabilities. The 9-month intensive IONA program efficacy depends not just on the instructors, but the learning community it creates. As IONA students immerse themselves in and ask questions about nature together, the learning intensifies for each individual. The whole learning community benefits from each individual's presence.

In the midst of such curiosity and adventure, each person's unique leadership abilities emerge and strengthen one another. Throughout the course, the principles of cultural mentoring are discussed, practiced and developed providing an in-depth exposure to ancient methods of developing and maintaining community and a native knowledge of place.

Local Land, Local Community
The 9-month intensive IONA program mentors people in reading the language of nature and instills in its students that the earth is a master storyteller. This empowers students to develop the listening and questioning skills to understand what is happening around them ecologically. Through this process, and the skill set acquired, program participants spend time helping local conservation and habitat enhancement projects. Students gain an overall awareness about how the activities of animals, humans and the weather impact our local habitat.

"Now let us put our minds together to see what kind of world we can leave for our children." - Sitting Bull

Schedule for Nine-Month Intensive: Trimester Start Dates, 2005-2006
This Nine-Month Intensive training program is held in three ten-week trimester sessions, including twenty class days and thirty class evenings per trimester. Classes are held during the days on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and in the evenings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Pre-registration is required, please call WildLife Associates at 650-712-0800, or email Info@WildlifeAssociates.org.

First Trimester 2005-2006 series begins Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Second Trimester 2005-2006 series begins Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Third Trimester 2005-2006 series of begins Tuesday, February 28, 2006

First Trimester Class Schedule, 2005
September 13-15, 20-22, 27-29
October 4-6, 11-13,18-20, 25-27
November 1-3, 8-10,15-17

Second Trimester Class Schedule, 2005 - 2006
November 29-December 1
December 6-8, 13-15
January 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26
January 31-February 2
February 7-9, 14-16

Third Trimester Class, 2006
February 28 -Mar 2
March 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30
April 4-6, 11-13, 25-27
May 2-4, 9-11
Graduation is Friday May 12th

Tuition Nine-Month Intensive Format: 2 days and 3 evenings per week
$2,700 Pre-paid tuition for one 10-week trimester
$5,300 Pre-paid tuition for two 10-week trimesters
$7,500 Pre-paid tuition for all three 10-week trimesters

College Credit
Although not required for participation, students can earn college credit from some colleges and universities through independent study contracts.

A certificate will be awarded to those who complete all three trimesters. This certificate recognizes the student's participation in tracking and awareness training with Jon Young, basic permaculture training and for participation in the extensive Art of Mentoring training.

Accommodations, Transportation, Meals & Student Life
Tuition to the Institute of Nature Awareness covers program costs only. Students are responsible for their own housing, transportation, meals, field guides and course work materials. Laptop computer, PDA, and GPS unit are not required but will enhance the learning experience. Students are mentored and encouraged to work together as a learning community as a foundation of their student life.

Collaborations
The Institute of Nature Awareness draws on the knowledge, skills, experience and mission of a number of organizations, including the Shikari Tracking Guild, Wildlife Associates, the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, US Fish & Wildlife, Project Nature Mapping, Wilderness Awareness School, the Wilderness Youth Project, the Permaculture Institute of Northern California, the Regenerative Design Institute and many land management agencies and organizations throughout the area.

Study Locations
The Institute of Nature Awareness students will experience training in the field, in the forest, at the seaside, in the ocean, in the gardens, in the orchards, at the fireside, in the classroom, in the computer lab, at a wildlife sanctuary and in the presentation halls. Students should be prepared for training in a variety of weather conditions. The program will be mostly based on more than five thousand acres of coastal conservation lands, along the Santa Cruz Coastal Mountain Range. Additional field trips will take place in breathtaking and expansive wild land holdings along the Pacific Ocean from Santa Cruz to Point Reyes National Seashore.

Weekend Classes
with Jon Young and other esteemed instructors

These experiential classes are offered once each month for nine months, starting in September. Each weekend workshop begins with a lecture Friday evening, and includes field work on Saturday and Sunday located within one hour's drive of San Francisco. Each weekend class is valuable by itself, but powerfully complements the other classes when taken in series.

SCHEDULE OF WEEKEND CLASSES for 2005-2006:

Weekend workshops are Friday evenings 7:30-9:00,

Saturdays 9-5 and Sundays 9-4.

Trimester 1 Class Dates

September 9-11

Cultural Mentoring

Learn the importance of a variety of core routines and activities in effective mentoring, coaching and self-motivation. This weekend will leave you with strong tools to assist you in developing critical life skills that will enhance your experiences in nature.

October 14-16

Wisdom & Teachings for Survival

This program is led by Mark Tollefson and his wife, Sharon Buczaczer. Mark & Sharon run the Wilderness Youth Project in Santa Barbara (www.wyp.org). At last years class they received RAVE REVIEWS from IONA participants who experienced their fun & skillful wilderness survival teaching methods.

They will be teaching essential skills and sharing their experiences that will help us build special relationships with the trees, bushes and other woody plants that provide so much for our survival needs. Come and learn how to live more in tune with the living environment.

November 11-13

Building an Elders Society

We will discover how to build a community support system based on native ways of knowledge, where nature is seen as the most effective teacher. Jon Young and Paul Raphael will team up this weekend to offer the most critical tools for strengthening our personal commitment toward positive change.

Trimester 2 Class Dates

December 9-11, January 13-15, February 10-12

Class content will be announced

Trimester 3 Class Dates

March 10-12, April 7-9, May 5-7

Class content will be announced

Graduation Day is Friday, May 12th

WEEKEND CLASS TUITION:

Pre-paid tuition per trimester (three workshops): $450

Tuition per individual workshop: $200

To register or for more information, please call
Wildlife Associates 1-800-244-WILD or 650-712-0800

Info@WildlifeAssociates.org

Links

Jon Young - www.JonYoung.info

Wildlife Associates - www.WildlifeAssociates.org
P.O. Box 3098, Half Moon Bay, California 94019

Wilderness Awareness School - www.wildernessawareness.org
Shikari Tracking Guild - www.shikari.org
Riekes Center for Human Enhancement - www.riekes.org
Permaculture Institute of Northern California - www.permacultureinstitute.com

Instructor's Bios

Jon Young

Jon Young, inspired by his childhood mentoring with tracker and naturalist Tom Brown, Jr., Jon has pioneered the blending of Native mentoring techniques from around the world with the tools of modern field ecology. He has created an internationally recognized system of naturalist, tracking and awareness training that has guided thousands of people to a deeper relationship with their native environment on their journey to proficiency in the study of the natural world. Jon's teachings have inspired people worldwide for more than two decades; he is an author, musician and founder of both the Wilderness Awareness School and the Shikari Tracking Guild.

Steve Karlin

Steve Karlin is the founder of the non-profit organization, Wildlife Associates and of the Wild Teachers Wildlife Sanctuary. Living with wild animals for twenty-five years, Steve has developed amazing relationships with lions, wolves, eagles, bears, alligators, foxes and many other wild animals. Steve's unique experiences and insights into the animal realm have led him to appear on Larry King Live, National Geographic Explorer, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, Animal Planet, PBS, and his own syndicated TV segment, Earth Journal. Steve also is an instructor for the California Institute of Integral Studies. Through Wildlife Associates, Steve and his staff teach 500,000 students and adults each year. Steve has been teaching people about their connection to animals and nature for 27 years.

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