bear prints measured

Bear Tracks
Photo by David Ellis
wildlife monitor for Berkshire Keeping Track

Berkshire Keeping Track®
Wildlife Monitoring Program

Upcoming Event:
Bears, Bobcat, Moose and More:
Our Wild Neighbors
Wildlife Slide Show
October 26, 7 to 9 pm

more information about this event

Berkshire Keeping Track Wildlife Slide Show poster

Bear cub peeking out from behind a tree
Bears, Bobcat, Moose and More: Our Wild Neighbors
Wildlife Slide Show

with Susan Morse
of Keeping Track®

Moose cow with calf standing in water
Children and adults who are fascinated by wildlife will get a rare opportunity to see and hear about mammals living in the forests and streams near our homes. Susan Morse, a nationally recognized naturalist and wildlife expert, will be at Berkshire Community College’s Robert Boland Theater on Friday, October 26 from 7-9 PM.

The entertaining and educational evening will kick off with a slide show of Morse’s spectacular wildlife photos and an interactive talk on the biology and ecology of mammals in New England. Morse uses humor and personal anecdotes to impress on wildlife enthusiasts of all ages the importance of landscape-level planning to protect habitat and wildlife corridors. She has captured photos of mammals in the wild during her 30 years of tracking and exploring how wildlife uses habitat. Morse’s research has focused on cougar, bobcat, black bear, and Canada lynx.

The program is hosted by Berkshire Keeping Track and Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). Co-sponsors include Berkshire Community College and Miller Printing in Amsterdam, NY.

Keeping Track® was founded by Susan Morse in 1994 to teach adults and children how to observe, interpret, record, and monitor evidence of wildlife in their local communities. Almost 100 teams have completed Morse’s “University of Nature” and many are currently monitoring and recording wildlife data in their home areas throughout the northeast and Quebec. These teams attract all kinds of people, Morse reports. “What we’re finding is, they all care passionately about wildlife habitat. And they’re putting their differences aside to go out together and learn these skills for the purposes of intelligent planning in their communities.”

The first Berkshire Keeping Track group completed its training in May 2007 and the 16 graduates are currently working in three teams to identify key habitat areas they will monitor. This first group includes volunteers from 20 to 60+ years old who reside in 14 of our region’s towns. 18 more volunteers from the Berkshire region will start the next Keeping Track training in January 2008. Anyone interested in joining can get information at the slide show or online or by calling Joan Cousins at (413) 329-7382.

Sue Morse has been featured in: National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” and in magazines such as Smithsonian, Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation’s Ranger Rick, Adirondack Life, Vermont Life, Orion, and Wild Earth. Her photography and life work are featured in The Woods Scientist, part of the Houghton Mifflin Company’s “Scientist in the Field” series.

Berkshire Community College is located at 1350 West Street in Pittsfield. Tickets may be purchased with cash at the door: Children $5, Adults $7, Families $20. For more information call Berkshire Keeping Track’s Coordinator, Joan Cousins, at (413) 329-7382 or visit www.thebeatnews.org/kt/kt.html and www.keepingtrack.org.

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