Overview

Congratulations on your interest in Keeping Track! Volunteers in over 90 communities in the northeastern U.S. and Quebec have been trained to participate in Keeping Track Monitoring Programs (KTMPs). Land trusts, conservation commissions, and watershed associations are discovering the value of a wildlife habitat monitoring program established and maintained by citizen volunteers. Specialized KTMP instruction is also available for land managers and environmental professionals, including state and federal agency personnel.

How the Process Works

Step 1: The Wildlife Event

• Includes a spectacular slide show, extensive display of wildlife items, and discussion.
• Brings together people from all walks of life — a great family event!
• Introduces the Keeping Track program and principles of conservation biology.
• Enables a host organization to gauge the degree of interest in a full-scale training program. We recommend that you work with our Office Manager and create KTMP course registration documents to use that night to sign up participants in a training program.

Step 2: Training

• Six full-day training workshops in the field and two evening classroom sessions over a six to nine month period.
• A team may consist of up to 15 participants.
• Each day may involve three to five miles of walking or snowshoeing through rough, untracked terrain in all kinds of weather.
• Comprehensive training materials are provided and participants receive an extensive list of suggested supplemental reading.

• detection and interpretation of tracks and sign of agreed upon focal species for your region
• tracks and sign of additional species that may be confused with those of the focal species
• conservation biology as it relates to data collection and resulting land protection
• forest ecology and plant identification as they relate to mammal uses of habitat
• ‘search imaging’–Sue Morse’s technique for predictably looking in the right places and finding sign
• an introduction to science-based field studies, including the Keeping Track Project and Data Management Protocol and data collection forms.
• Specific preparation for the ‘Super Map Session’ and the creation of transects are the responsibility of each team. Keeping Track staff may be retained to assist with these activities at an additional cost.
• This is not a tracking class! Unlike other tracking courses, we will not learn about track morphology and gaits.

Step 3: Monitoring

• Prior to establishing transects, KTMPs conduct reconnaissance for six months to a year. Reconnaissance involves an extensive informal exploration of quality habitat and possible linkage zones looking for suitable transect locations.
• Volunteers establish transects, i.e. specific linear sampling units, that are monitored annually. The number of transects depends on the local group’s goals and team size.
• Each transect is surveyed by a team of volunteers, four times a year (once in each season).
• Consistency and rigor in data collection are critical in order for the information to be credible.
• KTMPs share their information with neighboring KTMPs, their Regional Planning Commission, and the state Fish and Wildlife Department.
• Your data may be used to inform local and regional planning, and/or form the basis for local land conservation initiatives.
• Keeping Track’s houses a copy of all KTMP data in a central database. In this capacity, Keeping Track performs a quality control function and we anticipate that regional data sets will be increasingly important in the years to come.
• KTMPs who wish to get further training in areas such as photography, GPS mapping, map reading and UTM coordinates, transect design, or data management (including GIS) should gather a sufficient number of volunteers together to make a workshop economical and contact Keeping Track to schedule the workshop.

KTMP (local group) responsibilities:

• Organizing and administering ongoing monitoring programs.
• Keeping up with proper protocols.
• Communicating with volunteers. Keeping Track services include:
• Providing technical assistance
• Managing a central database
• Hosting a group e-mail service
• Publishing a quarterly newsletter.
• Hosting an annual conference.

Scheduling

• Three of six training workshops are scheduled to take place at our outdoor training facility in Jericho, Vermont (‘Wolfrun’)
• The other three workshops as well as the classroom sessions take place in the town or region undertaking the training.
• At least three of the six training workshops are scheduled for weekdays (available weekends fill up very fast)
• Workshops are frequently postponed due to weather, tracking conditions or road conditions, and the group must work together to reschedule
• Individuals can make up a missed workshop with another group, although missing classes makes it difficult for the tracker and for Keeping Track. Every effort should be made to attend originally scheduled classes!

Cost

The total cost of your program will include the program fee, mileage and other travel expenses. Typically, host groups ask their participating trackers for some level of financial support.

KTMP teams have been resourceful in finding other ways to finance all or part of the cost of their training, including obtaining grants, charging the public for admittance to the slide show, holding a local fund raiser, and soliciting support from area businesses. Keeping Track can help to locate possible grantors and assist in writing requests.

Please call the administrative office with any questions at (802) 434-7000. To schedule a Wildlife Event, contact Program Director Sue Morse at our field office (802) 899-2023. We look forward to hearing from you!