On Friday, March 6, Dan Yacobellis of the Tamakoce Wilderness Programs came to Log Lunch to speak about the benefits of animal tracking to oneself and the world. Yacobellis has spent the last two decades animal tracking, an activity during which an individual spends long amounts of time in the woods following prints in the snow and the pursuits of the animals who made them. After living with the Lakota Indians in 1990 and being immersed in indigenous culture, Yacobellis became deeply interested in animal tracking. Now a primitive skills enthusiast, he teaches tracking and wilderness skills at the Tamakoce Wilderness Programs in Grafton, New York. There, he brings school groups, incarcerated youth, recovery programs, and scouts into the woods to spend time connecting to nature through the footprints of animals.
In his talk, Yacobellis emphasized that tracking is much more that simply viewing discreet tracks in the snow. For him, tracking is like learning how to read a new book or language, here insinuated to perhaps be the natural world. In the process, one gains diverse skills such as awareness, knowledge, confidence, humility, creativity, connection, and communication. Thus, not only does tracking expand beyond following the psychical gait of an animal to understanding nature but also into human life situations. Yacobellis described his application of tracking to emotions, a process he calls “inner-track.” Just as one would track an animal, one can personally track his or her own emotions, determining where they are coming from and their veracity.
After describing these ways that tracking can contribute to personal growth, Yacobellis described the actually process of tracking in the woods. First, a tracker starts to identify things, likely associated with animals, and his ability to see remnants of animal life expands with time. He or she then follow the trail and ask questions about the findings. The tracker may even find things that the animal ate and start to walk in its tracks, in the mud and in the snow. The goal of a track, if any, is to interpret the signs and tell the story of the animal. One must not assume anything but merely observe. Tracking is a very humble pursuit involving Buddhist principles such as a lack of attachment to material things and being in the moment.
Yacobellis noted the infectious nature of tracking and argued that once a tracker knows the animals, he or she might want to take action for their protection. These efforts could include mammal surveys, monitoring road crossings, species counts, and joining local conservation groups. With its dual benefits of knowing the natural world and knowing yourself, tracking would be a worthwhile pursuit to try on one of Williamstown’s snowy, winter afternoons.
To learn more about Yacobellis and the Tamakoce Wilderness Programs, please visit http://www.tamakocewildernessprograms.com/pb/wp_2b9b1f17/wp_2b9b1f17.html.
By Sara Clark ‘15
