What You'll Learn:

🐾 Wildlife Tracking: Master the art of tracking animals in their natural habitat, from identifying footprints to understanding behavior.

🐦 Animal Communication: Develop skills to understand and interact with wildlife, learning how to read animal sounds and signals

🌲 Wilderness Survival: Equip yourself with essential survival techniques for any environment, from fire-starting to shelter-building.

🌿 Foraging: Safely identify and collect edible plants, expanding your knowledge of nature’s pantry.

🌳 And More: Explore a variety of other naturalist skills to enhance your outdoor experiences.

Benefits

🌍 Feel Confident and Safe in the Wild: Gain the skills to navigate and thrive in remote wilderness areas, equipping yourself with knowledge that could save your life in critical situations.

🌿 Deepen Your Connection with Nature: Experience nature on a new level by learning to observe, communicate with, and appreciate wildlife in their natural habitat.

🧘‍♂️ Reduce Stress and Find Inner Peace: Harness the calming power of nature to reduce stress and bring a sense of relaxation every time you're outdoors, no matter the environment.

Why Choose Us?

🧭 Expert Instructors: Learn from seasoned naturalists and survival experts with years of field experience.

🌟 Proven Results: Discover how our program has transformed participants' outdoor skills through their success stories.

📚 Comprehensive Curriculum: Enjoy a well-rounded and immersive education that covers all aspects of naturalist training.

Wildlife Tracks & Sign

Knowing how to recognize animal tracks and sign is key to understanding the wildlife that is in the area, including perceiving what it was doing and when it was there, and how to find (or avoid) it. Just as indigenous peoples are taught at a young age how to interpret the clues left behind by animals, you too will learn the skills to be able to confidently identify, age, and follow a wide variety of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian tracks and trails through:

• Understanding track morphology, features, and characteristics
• Reading gaits and interpreting associated behaviors
• Aging tracks and sign
• Following animal paths and trailing wildlife
• Interpreting scat and pellet, and predation remains
• Recognizing other animal sign like feeding, bedding, marking etc.

Bird Language & Animal Communication 

People of virtually every hunter-gatherer culture understood the meaning behind songbird vocalizations and other communications, and how to tune into the messages that were being broadcast about what was happening on the landscape around them. You will learn how to increase your situational awareness through interpreting the meaning behind what birds and other animals are ‘saying’ by:

• Knowing how to distinguish between baseline and non-baseline behaviors
• Deciphering alarm calls and identifying potential aerial threats
• Identifying the whereabouts and movements of dangerous ground predators
• Understanding methods to conceal your presence while hunting and get close to wildlife
• Recognizing the true nature of silence in the forest and how to use that to your advantage
• Interpreting the communication web that exists between all animals

Wilderness Survival

Learning essential survival skills is necessary to dealing with emergency situations in the outdoors that could threaten your safety and those with you. Like the famous scouts, pioneers, and mountain men of of the past who old had an intimate knowledge of the natural world that allowed them to subsist on the land and thrive in hostile conditions, you'll learn a variety of techniques that will enable you to handle adversity whether it happens on a nearby hiking trail or deep in remote country including:

• Avoiding dangerous survival situations
• Starting fire, finding/purifying water, and building emergency shelters
• Navigating using a compass and topographical map
• Getting lost and methods for finding your way out or signaling for rescue
• Staying warm and avoiding heat exhausting/ dehydration
• Making cordage, tying knots, and using a knife

Foraging for Wild Plants

Eating 'off-the-land' entails a lot more than just finding a few leafy greens that are edible or locating some ripe fruit; a true naturalist knows the ins and outs of getting access to plant resources that are available at their fingertips when they need them. You'll learn to avail yourself of nutritious wild foods present in your own back yard, nearby green space, or wilderness by:

• Learning the most essential staple foods indigenous people relied upon
• Knowing correct habitats to locate desired species
• Identifying plants using appropriate characteristics/keys
• Avoiding dangerous lookalikes that are poisonous
• Recognizing what time of year to harvest particular species
• Understanding steps required in processing what you bring home

Other Skills

A well-rounded naturalist draws upon a wide array of skills that he or she can call upon as the situation demands. There is no limit to the amount of useful knowledge that can be acquired, and hence some additional topics that may be referenced during weekly lessons (among others) include:

• Selecting backcountry gear and clothing recommendations
• Setting up campsites and choosing overnight locations
• Predicting the weather based on 'in-the-field' observations
• Maintaining your physical health and well-being in remote country
• Keeping a positive attitude and good psychology when things go wrong
• Performing sense meditations & other routines that enhance your outdoor experiences

We're so sure that you'll love The Naturalist Training Program that we're offering an outrageous guarantee: You have 30 days after your membership starts to change your mind and ask for a refund. No hassle, no questions asked, no hard feelings!

Lee Burton

Lee Burton, the founder of Naturalist Studies, is an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida, Texas A&M, and the University of Idaho, where he teaches courses in animal behavior. He has a passion for wildlife that took him all over the world, and ultimately led him to become the director for Conservation Centers for Species Survival, an organization that specializes in breeding endangered wildlife. He was profiled on Steve Rinella's Meateater podcast for his work in helping reintroduce the Scimitar-horned Oryx back into sub-Sahara Africa for the first time in over forty years. .

Lee is a Master Naturalist, expertly trained in conservation and environmental education. He also holds a Wildlife Track and Sign Certification from CyberTracker Conservation, and was mentored by Jon Young, a renowned naturalist and tracker who authored What the Robin Knows and who is considered one of the leading figures in nature awareness and wilderness skills. Additionally, Lee is a certified Bird Language Leaders Instructor, a specialized qualification that offers unique insights into bird behavior and communication, deepening one's connection to the natural world.

In his own words:

"I grew up in small-town Texas where my father and relatives taught me fishing and hunting. I fell in love with the outdoors, but as an adult, I realized I needed to learn more. I immersed myself in studying animals, plants, and ecology, traveling to remote places in Asia, Africa, and South America.

When I returned, I wanted to connect more deeply with nature. I delved into Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), learning ancient skills like animal tracking, bird language interpretation, and wilderness survival. This hands-on experience was a game-changer. I realized I was part of nature's unfolding story every time I stepped outside.

My friend, a biology professor, asked me to teach animal tracking to her students. The online course was a hit, leading to more courses and eventually the founding of Naturalist Studies. The program combines wildlife tracking, bird and animal language, wilderness survival, foraging for wild plants, and other essential skills.

You can't become an expert just by watching online, but with practice and dedication, you can master these outdoor skills. The Naturalist Training Program offers expert-led lessons each week, allowing you to learn at your own pace, ask questions, share discoveries, and practice skills before moving on.

This comprehensive program is designed to change your outdoor experiences forever."

Matthew Hunter

Matthew Hunter is the creator of courses in wilderness survival and foraging. He has filmed over 150 videos about edible wild plants and survival skills, and regularly leads plant walks in his local area. He is an expert in the edible and medicinal flora of multiple regions and maintains a foraging blog, and is the author of several foraging books.

Matthew is also a specialist in teaching useful survival skills, having spent months at a time alone honing his craft in some of the most remote country in North America. He has practiced foraging for over a decade and has developed mastery in recognizing useful plants, harvesting them, and preparing them as a food source or as herbal remedies.

In his own words:

"When I was seventeen years old I started camping, hiking, foraging and learning survival skills, and spent years sorting through countless books and videos, learning without a clear direction and having to deal with the pain of my own mistakes as my biggest teacher. I wasted TIME learning impractical skills, wasted MONEY on equipment I didn't need, and spent many MISERABLE nights doing things the WRONG way.

I wanted to know how the Native Americans lived and survived in the past. Why don't we still eat the plants they used to eat? Surely we are surrounded by edible plants, but we just don't know about them, right? I took in-person classes which were a big help, but they were expensive, and most only scratched the surface on what I wanted to know about the outdoors.

I wanted to create a better alternative.

My hunch was that that edible plants surround us proved to be absolutely right. Wild plants are everywhere and I learned about their amazing nutritional benefits and importance as emergency or survival food. I quickly started learning plants and amassing a small library of wild food books, and I was amazed at the new world I was discovering right in my own neighborhood!

I did the same in learning survival skills, and then started putting together exactly what I wished I had when I was learning: a clear, concise guide that takes you step-by-step through the most important, practical skills for foraging and surviving in the outdoors. The materials are designed to supercharge the learner with knowledge on almost every major topic, covering a breadth of information that would be impossible to cover in a typical weekend course.

In the ten years since I began teaching these courses, I've found that online instruction is very effective if students are willing to put in the 'dirt' time. Plus, getting outside means you will learn about other aspects of nature too, all the while having FUN in the process!"