Conference Presenters
Aaron Bott
Yellowstone Wolf Project
Aaron is a biologist and a doctoral student at Utah State University studying wolves across the American West — predicting wolf spatial and behavioral patterns to promote human-carnivore coexistence. Additionally, Aaron works with the Yellowstone Wolf Project, monitoring wolves’ spatial persistence and reproduction in the interior of Yellowstone.
Kim Cabrera
Kim Cabrera is a lifelong tracker and nature enthusiast. She is a Track and Sign Specialist in Forest and Desert biomes. Cabrera loves to explore nature and finds fascination in the small details.
Vanessa Castle
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
Vanessa Castle is a member of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and is a Natural Resource technician for her tribe working on the Olympic Cougar Project who partners with Panthera and many other Tribes on the Olympic Peninsula.
Kareem Dieng
Rising Sun Adventure
Kareem is CyberTracker Level One in Track and Sign, a Maine Guide, and a lifelong outdoorsman and naturalist. He is the owner and guide of Rising Sun Adventure, where he leads recreational tours primarily of Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, situated on Wabanaki Ancestral Homelands in Maine. He is passionate about reconnecting people with nature, and learning with and sharing the more than human world.
Abi Fergus
Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council
Abi (they/them) lives in the Penokee mountains and tracks their neighbors including wolves, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, porcupines, weasels, and game birds. They began to learn tracking while working for the Bad River Tribe, but they grew up being fascinated by life down to the pillbugs and ants in the yard. Abi uses wildlife tracking to facilitate connection and coexistence with groups including farmers, indigenous people, and queer people.
Dani Freund
University of Minnesota
Dani Freund is a masters student at University of Minnesota studying wolf predation on secondary prey species. She loves to ski and make homemade pasta.
Dan Gardoqui
Lead With Nature
Dan Gardoqui has been facilitating nature connection for over 30 years. He has mentored hundreds of youth and adults in the ways of tracking and bird language and is continually full of questions about the complexity of the more-than-human-world. He is a consultant, trainer and guide at Lead with Nature.
Daniel Hansche
Spur Wander & Tracker Certification
With over 25 years’ experience, Daniel (they/he) is a CyberTracker Track & Sign Evaluator with TCNA and is certified on three continents. Having contributed to hundreds of wildlife trackers’s intense growth, Daniel’s artistic approach to mentoring brims with curiosity and creativity, which is especially apparent in their signature offering “Tracking & Perception.” Spur Wander offers high-quality experiences to wildlife trackers worldwide.
Nate Harvey
A Tracker’s Trail & Tracker Certification
Nate Harvey trains and evaluates trackers for Tracker Certification, CyberTracker North America in both Trailing and Track & Sign Identification. In addition, he has taught workshops and Trailing Intensives around North America and Europe but mostly near his home in southern Vermont.
Lameace Hussain
University of Florida
Lameace Hussain is a herpetologist who focuses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues within the conservation field. They are currently a wildlife PhD student at the University of Florida where they combine conservation with outreach programs for kids and adults.
Dr. Zoe Jewell & Dr. Sky Alibhai
WildTrack & Duke University
Dr. Zoe Jewell and Dr. Sky Alibhai are the co-founders of WildTrack, and Adjunct Faculty at Duke University, North Carolina. WildTrack has more than 30 field projects worldwide focusing on a wide range of different species. We are building reference datasets of footprints for these species that help us protect them in the wild.
Luke Lamar
Swan Valley Connections
Luke Lamar was born and raised in Swan Valley, Montana. He has been the Conservation Director for non-profit conservation and education organization Swan Valley Connections since 2014 and has been a part of the team of partners who have worked on the Southwest Crown Rare Carnivore Monitoring Project from 2012-2022. Luke is a CyberTracker-certified Track and Sign Specialist.
Kersey Lawrence, Lee Gutteridge, Rob Timmins & Chanthasone Phommachanh
Original Wisdom, Nature Guide Training & The Saola Foundation
Kersey Lawrence is a CyberTracker Senior Tracker who evaluates participants in the Track and Sign Identification aspect in Africa and in the Trailing aspect in North America. She holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources with research on the trackers and tracking in the CyberTracker Tracker Certification system. Lee Gutteridge is one of a handful of Scout Guides in Southern Africa, an author of 9 field guides, and a Senior Tracker and Evaluator in Africa. Lee and Kersey are a couple who run international guide and tracker courses together through their businesses. Rob Timmins is the lead scientist for the Saola Foundation and has been traveling to the jungles of the Annamites for over 30 years, where he has documented several new species for science. Chanthasone Phommachanh (“Olay”) is the Field Project Manager for the Saola Foundation. Olay is a biodiversity survey specialist from Laos with extensive experience in leading field-based biological monitoring teams in the forests of the Annamite range.
Joseph Litke
Fiera Biological Consulting
Joseph is Co-founder and Operations Director with Fiera Biological, in Edmonton Alberta. He has been tracking professionally as a wildlife biologist for over 20 years, and has been regularly organizing and instructing wildlife tracking workshops for the past 15 years as part of a personal commitment to elevate the level at which tracking is practiced in Alberta.
Sue Mansfield
Sue’s long-time interest in tracking intensified with the discovery of a bear trail in 1999. She apprenticed with Paul Rezendes for two years before entering Antioch University New England in 2002. There she pursued a master’s degree in Conservation Biology while studying black bears in Minnesota. She is currently retired and writing a book on her experiences walking with bears.
Matt Nelson, Preston Taylor & Nate Harvey
Tracker Certification North America
Matt Nelson, Preston Taylor and Nate Harvey are Evaluators for TCNA. Learn more about them on this page.
Rae Nickerson
Utah State University
Rae is a PhD student at Utah State University with a decade of experience in human-wildlife conflict. Her current research as a member of the Conservation Innovation Grant’s Conservation on Working Lands team focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of nonlethal tools for preventing conflict between livestock and large carnivores. She’s worked for various state and federal wildlife agencies on conflict and management concerns, and specializes in facilitation, deliberation, and conflict mitigation between stakeholder groups. Her current passion involves watching hipster Allison Roman cook delicious meals on YouTube, and she cannot keep a house plant alive to save her life.
Jonathan Poppele
Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project
Jonathan Poppele is the founder of the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project and the author of over a dozen nature guidebooks including Animal Tracks of the Midwest and the forthcoming Bird Tracks QuickGuide. He earned a master’s degree in Conservation Biology studying wildlife tracking as citizen science and is now researching animal locomotion and track patterns for a future book on the subject.
Sage Raymond
University of Alberta
Sage is a committed and long-time nature nerd, having worked throughout British Columbia as a wildlife technician, and bear-viewing guide. Sage is now a grad student at the University of Alberta, using tracking as method to study various aspects of coyote ecology, then ultimately use animal behaviour to promote human-wildlife coexistence in cities. Life is good.
Rob Rich
Rob Rich is a naturalist who conducts biological surveys, advances conservation projects, and teaches courses on beaver ecology, wildlife tracking, birding, and more. He has published writing and photography with outlets such as Audubon, High Country News, and Earth Island Journal. He currently serves the National Wildlife Federation in support of the Montana Beaver Working Group, and he has worked for entities including the Montana Natural History Center, Swan Valley Connections, and the University of Montana.
Dave Scott
Earth Native Wilderness School & Tracker Certification North America
Dave Scott is a CyberTracker Evaluator currently working with Tracker Certification North America. He has been intensely tracking wildlife for over 20 years and has mentored hundreds of students including several up to the Track and Sign Specialist level. Dave is the Founder and Executive Director of Earth Native Wilderness School in Central Texas where he teaches Wildlife Tracking and Outdoor Skills.
Larissa Slaney
Heriot-Watt University & WildTrack Specialist Group
Larissa is a founding member of the WildTrack Specialist Group, who specialise in the use of non-invasive methods for wildlife monitoring. She has a BSc (Honours) in Life Sciences, a 1st State Exam in German Law and is currently doing her PhD in cheetah footprint analysis at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, U.K. She also develops science workshops and has worked internationally as a science communicator. Her interests are in non-invasive wildlife monitoring, education and traditional tracking. Larissa has passed her CyberTracker Level 2 in Track & Sign in both the UK and Portugal.
Gene Tagaban
Native Wellness Institute
Gene Tagaban/Guy Yaau, Cherokee, Tlingit, Filipino. Over the last 30 years Gene has worked nationally and internationally creating a world in which we want to belong. Gene’s passion is mentoring, speaking, performing, facilitation and healing. Gene is a board member and trainer with the Native Wellness Institute. A trainer for ANDVSA, facilitating COMPASS: Choose Respect, a male engagement and mentorship program. Cultural consultant with Mother Nation, an organization providing cultural services, advocacy, mentorship and homeless prevention to Native women and families. Gene has also been featured at storytelling festivals nationally and internationally and is a honorary uncle with the Wilderness Awareness School. Gene performs with Khu’eex, a Native Funk band based out of Seattle. Gene is always open to share stories, spirit and inspiration with people of all ages.
Alex Troutman
N8ture_AL
Alex Troutman is Wildlife Biologist, Environmental educator and Author with a passion for sharing and immersing the younger generation into nature. He has Bachelor’s & Master’s Degrees from Georgia Southern University. Alex makes it a point to be a representation for the younger generation and an advocate for social/ environmental justice, and increasing awareness of Black nature enthusiasts and diversity in STEM fields.
Kirsten Welge, Eric Vehe & Bill Kass
Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project
Kirsten Welge, Tracker III, joined the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project for its first 2013 gathering. Now, she’s MWTP co-instigator and organizes Trailing Practice and Evaluations. Eric Vehe, Tracker III, is a professional naturalist and Program Services Supervisor at Wargo Nature Center. Bill Kass, Tracker II, Track & Sign III (Track & Sign II – South Africa) is a long-time naturalist and science educator.
Jeff Wirth
Stay Wild Media
Jeff Wirth is a conservation filmmaker, photographer, and wildlife tracker based in Wyoming. Jeff grew up with a love for the wilderness, animals, and social and environmental justice. Over time and with more experience, Jeff found that photography and documentary filmmaking he could pursue his goals as an activist while also satisfying his desire for creative expression.