Cougars in the Northeast?
Ecology & Verification
February 11-12th, 2012
The use of Track and Sign in Cougar Verification with Dr. James Halfpenny
2/11-2/12 |9:00 am to 5:00 pm| $150
Register Here! Click Here to Join on Facebook!
Cougar, Mountain Lion, Puma, Painter, Panther, Catamount - They're all the same! These secret and elusive animals are the creatures of myths and rumors. Capable of killing people, cougars stir our imagination, curiosity, and fear. Improve your knowledge of cougars, their presence in our communities, the dangers they present, and their management.
Despite an overwhelming number of false reports, doctored photos, and misidentifications, the recent verification of tracks in upstate New York to a South Dakota cougar hit by a car in CT once again raise the ever popular question. Are there cougars in the Northeast? And if so, where else? Starting with an optional Friday evening slide show, class will cover cougar ecology and how cougars interact in a human environment. Additional topics include population biology, behavior, pet trade, locating tracks and signs, determining age and sex, verifying presence, collecting quality evidence, and other tracking subjects.
The workshop will provide the knowledge and skills needed to accurately identify and document signs of cougars, lynx, wolves, and other rare carnivores. This program is not a field course, but does include sandbox tracking and participants making plaster casts of rare mammal tracks .Taught by expert tracker and naturalist Dr. Jim Halfpenny along with co-author and Ndakinna Director James Bruchac. Special Sunday presentation by Dr. John W. Laundre, vice president of the Cougar Rewilding Project, who has done extensive assessments on possible cougar re-expansion into the Midwest and Eastern United States. Optional Friday evening lecture starts at 7:00p.m. Sat & Sun 9-5 each day. Certification included.
For a printable poster of the event, click here.
2/11-2/12 |9:00 am to 5:00 pm| $150
Register Here! Click Here to Join on Facebook!
Cougar, Mountain Lion, Puma, Painter, Panther, Catamount - They're all the same! These secret and elusive animals are the creatures of myths and rumors. Capable of killing people, cougars stir our imagination, curiosity, and fear. Improve your knowledge of cougars, their presence in our communities, the dangers they present, and their management.
Despite an overwhelming number of false reports, doctored photos, and misidentifications, the recent verification of tracks in upstate New York to a South Dakota cougar hit by a car in CT once again raise the ever popular question. Are there cougars in the Northeast? And if so, where else? Starting with an optional Friday evening slide show, class will cover cougar ecology and how cougars interact in a human environment. Additional topics include population biology, behavior, pet trade, locating tracks and signs, determining age and sex, verifying presence, collecting quality evidence, and other tracking subjects.
The workshop will provide the knowledge and skills needed to accurately identify and document signs of cougars, lynx, wolves, and other rare carnivores. This program is not a field course, but does include sandbox tracking and participants making plaster casts of rare mammal tracks .Taught by expert tracker and naturalist Dr. Jim Halfpenny along with co-author and Ndakinna Director James Bruchac. Special Sunday presentation by Dr. John W. Laundre, vice president of the Cougar Rewilding Project, who has done extensive assessments on possible cougar re-expansion into the Midwest and Eastern United States. Optional Friday evening lecture starts at 7:00p.m. Sat & Sun 9-5 each day. Certification included.
For a printable poster of the event, click here.
Don't Miss the Special Friday February 10th Evening Lecture!
Wilderness Forensics: Solving mysteries through
track and sign
track and sign
Dr. Halfpenny will explain the use of track and sign in the identification and the verification of various rare and endangered species throughout the world. The lecture will feature a powerpoint presentation illustrating how Dr. Halfpenny has put his methods to use. Q&A session to follow. Free for those in the full weekend workshop, or $10 for the evening. Starts at 7:00 p.m.
About our Guest Lecturers:
Dr. JAMES HALFPENNY
A scientist and educator based in Bozeman Montana, James Halfpenny is a carnivore specialist, with extensive hands-on field experience with canids, ursids, felids and mustelids. Halfpenny has been tracking animals since 1957, and teaching his specialized skills to others since 1969. Halfpenny is the author of many books, articles, and videos, including the books Tracking Cougars: The Basics, The Bears of Yellowstone, Scats and Tracks of the Northeast and A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America. He has conducted research and led expeditions to the four corners of the world, including both polar regions, the deserts and mountains of China and Africa, and the forests of the tropics.
Dr. JOHN LAUNDRE
John W. Laundré has studied cougars for more than twenty years in both the United States and Mexico. Dr. Laudre's assessment on cougar re-establishment into the Midwestern and Eastern United States is based on latest research, as well as his own biological expertise and long field experience. As vice president of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation, he advocates the return of cougars to their former territorial range. A Wisconsin native, he is currently an adjunct professor of biology at the State University of New York at Oswego.
About our Guest Lecturers:
Dr. JAMES HALFPENNY
A scientist and educator based in Bozeman Montana, James Halfpenny is a carnivore specialist, with extensive hands-on field experience with canids, ursids, felids and mustelids. Halfpenny has been tracking animals since 1957, and teaching his specialized skills to others since 1969. Halfpenny is the author of many books, articles, and videos, including the books Tracking Cougars: The Basics, The Bears of Yellowstone, Scats and Tracks of the Northeast and A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America. He has conducted research and led expeditions to the four corners of the world, including both polar regions, the deserts and mountains of China and Africa, and the forests of the tropics.
Dr. JOHN LAUNDRE
John W. Laundré has studied cougars for more than twenty years in both the United States and Mexico. Dr. Laudre's assessment on cougar re-establishment into the Midwestern and Eastern United States is based on latest research, as well as his own biological expertise and long field experience. As vice president of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation, he advocates the return of cougars to their former territorial range. A Wisconsin native, he is currently an adjunct professor of biology at the State University of New York at Oswego.
