Earth Skills Alliance
Some of the Presenters at the 2018 Coyote Conference
Tony Cervantes & Sara Raskie
Sara Raskie has been instructing at Fox Walkers for 4 years. She loves teaching, learning, playing, growing and loving Nature with the young ones! She is the mother of one college student, and is blessed with many grandchildren through her partner Tony! She is Ojibwa, lives in Nevada City, and when not at Fox Walkers, farms using permaculture methods, teaches classes on wellness, and works with food and medicine plants. She loves hiking, biking, swimming, care taking plants, hot springs, backpacking- anything to be immersed in Nature! She is passionate about inspiring young people to deepen their relationship with Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and empower themselves with learning everything possible about the natural world and our place in Creation.
Tony H. Cervantes (Chichimeca) has been working for over 45 years to protect and restore Indigenous relational constructs supportive of people, families, clans, Tribes, communities and Nations and the sacred relationship with the unseen world and all of Creation. Tony is retired from the State of California. After retirement he worked for Sierra Native Alliance and Shingle Springs Rancheria. He is trained in all White Bison, Positive Indian Parenting, Fatherhood/Motherhood is Sacred, Anger Manager and GONA curricula resulting in Cultural Revitalization, Leadership Development, Indigenous best practices, Wellbriety Community Development, Indigenous Addictions/Mental Health prevention/treatment and the Grieving Cycle. Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Systems, the Medicine Wheel and the behavioral components of addictions inform work focused on emotional, mental, physical, behavioral, social, volitional and economic wellness change. He currently lives with his partner Sara in Northern California’s mountains, has seven adult children and eight grandchildren. Tony enjoys being in nature and living sustainably, locally, organically, seasonally through perma-culture farming and wild harvesting medicine, cultural materials and food, road & mountain biking, kayaking, hiking & backpacking, hot springs, rivers and Indigenous ceremony. He and Sara currently provide workshops and farm 2.5 acres using perma-culture practices. They also provide consultant services, including with the California Conservation Corps Back County Crew Orientation training week. He deeply believes that living locally is key to bringing us closer to our original ancestors, tonantzin, ehecatl, atl and xieutecuhtli. "I remember drinking water directly from streams, rivers, creeks and seeing thousands of monarch butterflies in all stages of development at one place. What have we done?"
Michelle Sauceda
Tender Tracks Instructor
Michelle is a loving Mother, Naturalist, Auntie and Mentor to youth of all ages in connection to nature, self, community and place. She carries a love of life, love of this beautiful creation, love of friendship, and a knowing that children are magical beings. Michelle worked for the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement as a nature awareness instructor where she spent 5 years in the field with youth and staff practicing primitive skills, wildcrafting, music making and nature awareness skills. She is a graduate of the IONA (Institute of Nature Awareness) and RDNA (Regenerative Design Nature Awareness) programs where she gained skills for cultural mentoring, nature awareness, and the skills for building healthy resilient communities. Michelle also facilitates youth and adults in marking key transitions of life through rites of passage work. She has been blessed to spend years being mentored by a number of indigenous elders, who have helped guide her into the facilitation of potent and loving ceremonies that provoke the deep introspection and vulnerability needed for powerful transformations to occur.
Michelle is an instructor for Tender Tracks. Michelle will be co-leading the workshop on Nature Connecting with the Very Young
Rick Berry
Director and Founder of 4 Elements Earth Education
Rick Berry began with the Tracker School in 1986 at the age of 15, and has been teaching these skills to youth for over 25 years. After graduating with a B.S. from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA, Rick tested his skills in the remote Klamath Mountain range where he immersed himself for 12 years in indigenous life-ways--passed on to him by Gary Morris who himself had lived with Yurok Elder Calvin Rube for 20 years.
Later, Rick spent two years in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey as a caretaker for the Tracker School, testing and refining his tracking and survival skills. Rick taught with both Jon Young and Tom Brown, Jr. through the Tracker School’s Coyote Camps, and moved on to serve seven years as Director of The Children of the Earth Foundation.
Today, Rick lives in the Sierra foothills of Northern California where he shares dynamic teachings and philosophy of living as one with the Earth through 4 Elements Earth Education and its Fox Walkers program for school-aged children.
At the Conference Rick will present on Stalking Wolf’s Legacy; approaches to coyote teaching methods for youth and Teaching Earth Skills to Youth.
Doniga Markegard, Author of Dawn Again
With curiosity, tenacity, and a free-fall dive into the ragged business of real live nature, Doniga has given us an instruction booklet on how to get in touch with our best selves, through getting in touch with the earth. Dawn Again is filled with magic Doniga has made real, down to earth, and attainable, to varying degrees, to anyone.”
– Joan Baez
Dave Scott,
Director Earth Native Wilderness School
Dave is the founder and director of Earth Native Wilderness School. He is also the co-author of Bird Feathers: A Guide to North American Species. As an educator, Dave’s passion is to help his students establish strong lifelong bonds with nature and the outdoors through knowledge of wildlife behavior and track and sign, increased sensory awareness, wilderness survival skills, self-reliance, and the knowledge of place. Dave’s greatest love is spending time outdoors with his wife and kids. Dave is currently certified as a Track and Sign Specialist through the Cybertracker Conservation evaluation system, an international standard for gauging and enhancing in-field knowledge of wildlife behavior and track and sign identification. He is one of only 27 individuals in North America to attain this level of certification.
Wendolyn Bird
Executive Director Tender Tracks
Wendolyn brings a unique and outstanding set of talents, training and experience to all her work with young children and caregivers. Her workshops and trainings for educators, caregivers and parents incorporate story, song and music and are informed by her years of experience running her own fully outdoor pre-school, Tender Tracks Tales and Trails, as well as her popular outdoor Summer Camps for older children. Her skill set is enhanced by her experience as a licensed Psychiatric Technician, who worked in Child-Adolescent Psychiatric Units, Juvenile Court Schools and the County Jail. She has taught for many years in schools with diverse populations, and has been a professional storyteller and musician. Wendolyn will be leading workshops at the gathering on Developing Social and Emotional Safety and Connecting the Very Young.
She is also the author (and singer) of Tales from the Earth to Sky
Athena Gam & Eric Lake
Intentional Video Founders
Eric Lake has worked professionally as a photographer, videographer, editor, film producer, and brand strategist. During his film development deal with producer John H. Williams and Vanguard Films, Eric oversaw the development of live-action and animated films, working with several Oscar Best Animated Feature nominated directors. He was instrumental in setting up animation studios for Vanguard Films & Animation in Los Angeles, London and Vancouver. An alumni of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Eric has worked on feature films for Warner Bros., Fox, Starz Media, and Disney. His most recent work has taken him to Geneva to film at the U.N. Human Rights Office for the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, as well as Botswana, Africa to film with the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.
Athena Gam is an independent film director and writer with expertise in storytelling and development, additionally experienced in production management, social media content creation and strategic brand development. As a screenwriter, Athena wrote and developed live-action and animation screenplays for Shrek producer John H. Williams, working with Oscar nominated stop-animation film director Mike Johnson (The Corpse Bride) and Oscar nominated animated feature film director John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda). In professional theater, Athena worked with influential playwrights such as Athol Fugard, the late August Wilson and playwright, producer and television series creator, Jon Robin Bates. Athena is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, a participant in the Bioneers’ Cultivating Women’s Leadership program and a Santa Cruz Arts Council Grant Recipient.
Athena and Eric with be showing a teaser trailer and discussing their current animated project Song of the Kalahari
Ricardo Sierra
Co-founder and director of the Earth Mentoring Instutute and founder of Hawk Circle Summer Camps
Ricardo has led workshops, camps, school programs and adult trainings for over 30 years. He specializes in teaching and facilitating transformative programs using the skills and philosophy of wilderness to awaken our senses and our connection to the Earth. He is also the creator of the Earth Skills Correspondence Course, The Polaris Project, an online business mentoring program and the Wolverine Way Summit. A member of the Tracking Project's Community Mentoring Program in New Mexico, Rick is also an artist, writer, craftsperson and timber framer. Ricardo will be presenting workshops on "Walking Trails Our Mentors Never Trained Us For: Balancing Legacy and Forging New Paths" and co-leading a panel on Successful Business Strategies
Julie Wolk
Co-founder Wilderness Torah, Creator and Coach of Business Guided by Nature
Julie Wolk helps coaches, healers, teachers and guides, grow rooted, blossoming, burnout-free businesses by modeling them after the way nature works. She's a firm believer that if we step off the hamster wheel, and tune into nature’s rhythms, we can grow more sustainable lives, businesses and even—gasp!—a better world. A lifelong nature freak, she has over 15 years of experience turning vision into reality (including co-founding and formerly co-directing Wilderness Torah) , and helps create a simpler, more enjoyable, nature-led life and business. She offers private business coaching online and in nature, the annual Replenish Winter Reflection & Strategy Retreat for Women Entrepreneurs, the Roots of Business online course, and the Redwood Circle Women’s Business Community.
Julie will lead a workshop on Rooting Your Business So It Can Thrive: The 5 Essential Foundations.
Abel (Chris) Bean & Baerbel (OdeMakwa) Ehrig
Teaching Drum Outdoor School Wilderness Guides
Abel is a professional level wilderness guide with 18 years of experience at Teaching Drum Outdoor School. Since completing his first year-long Wilderness Guide Program at Teaching Drum in 2001, Abel has received advanced training from Tamarack Song, working alongside him in guiding the Wilderness Guide and Wild Moon programs, and the Guardian Intensive Field Trainings. His instructing capabilities in hunter-gather and personal development skills have earned him Master Guide credentials. As a mentor, soccer coach, and former high school science teacher, Abel’s leadership skills and compassion are living examples of the Guardian Way.
Growing up in West Berlin, Baerbel discovered her love for the outdoors after the Berlin wall came down in 1989. Since 2012, she has been serving as a Wilderness Guide and Program Coordinator for the Wilderness Guide Programs, Guardian Trainings and other short-term wilderness programs. In addition, Baerbel oversees program marketing through photography, updating Teaching Drum’s website, and helping to create program newsletters. Baerbel is certified as a level 2 tracker by the CyberTracker Track and Sign evaluation. She is a volunteer Tracker for the Wisconsin DNR Wolf Population Survey, and also works together with the Town of Three Lakes and Oneida County Conservation Department in helping to re-establishing native plant species in the region.
Abel and Makwa will be leading a workshop on wilderness stress and trauma.
Originally from Finland, Mia has studied the regenerative practices of earth based cultures around the world and has been mentoring children and adults for almost 20 years. She directed and co-founded the Bay Area branch of Trackers Earth, managed several outdoor education programs, and taught nature education in many California schools. She is the co-author of The Bay Area Forager, a guide to edible wild plants of the Bay Area. She has served on the board of non-profits including Sustainable Fairfax and Circlecenter and been an elected member of the Fairfax Open Space Committee. Mia will be leading a workshop called Conscious Harvesting and Wild Edibles for Kids- hands-on workshop.
Mia Andler
Vilda Founder, Director and Instructor
Caitlin Williams
Weaving Earth Immersion Instructor
Caitlin Williams
Weaving Earth Immersion Instructor
Caitlin is staff for the Weaving Earth Immersion. She has taught at many wilderness schools and has led hundreds of workshops in tracking and deepening relationship with nature across the United States and Canada. She has an international wildlife tracking and trailing certification from Cybertracker International, a permaculture certificate from Regenerative Design Institute, as well as twenty years of experience working with adults and children in nature. Currently, she is adjunct professor in environmental biology, environmental science and tracking at Deanza Community College. She is a proud nanny of seven children, now ages 20 to 6, and a contributing poet to We’moon and other publications. Caitlin will be leading Forest Therapy Walks and Teaching Tracking to Youth.
Mark Roemke
Founder Pathways Dojo and Ninjas in Nature
Known for his contagious positive energy and enthusiasm to live life to the fullest, Sensei Mark Roemke has been passionate about martial arts since before he started formal training at age 7. As a youngster he was the New York State Tae Kwon Do champion and began study of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu as a young adult. He currently holds a 15th Dan rank with a license to teach from Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi. Sensei Roemke believes strongly in keeping an open mind when it comes to martial arts training. As a result, he continues to learn new techniques and styles whenever possible and incorporate them into his teaching. His open-minded “no ego” philosophy has enabled him to study extensively in numerous other martial arts including Enshin Itto Ryu Battojutsu (the art of sword drawing and cutting), Kenpo Kung Fu, DeCuerdas Eskrima, Seibukan Jujutsu,and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
As an instructor, Sensei Roemke has a gift for conveying the knowledge and skills he’s acquired through decades of enthusiastic study and training. Those who know Sensei Roemke will tell you that he is always stoked with a true passion for learning, sharing,and life in general. Most recently, through a cooperative effort with a community of gifted mentors who share Sensei Roemke’s belief that connecting people, especially children, to nature is vital for true health and harmony, the 18 “lost” skills of the ninja are now being taught at Pathways Dojo through the Ninjas in Nature program. Mark will be leading a session on Movement and Ninja Skills with Youth in Nature
Stay Tuned...We will be highlighting more presenters each week as the conference approaches.
