Instructors
David Moskowitz — Wildlife Track and Sign Certification Instructor
David Moskowitz works in the fields of photography, wildlife biology and education. He is the photographer and author of three books: Caribou Rainforest, Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest and Wolves in the Land of Salmon and co-author and photographer of Peterson’s Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. He has contributed his technical expertise to a wide variety of wildlife studies regionally and in the Canadian and U.S. Rocky mountains, focusing on using tracking and other non-invasive methods to study wildlife ecology and promote conservation.
He helped establish the Cascade Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, a citizen science effort to search for and monitor rare and sensitive wildlife in the Cascades and other Northwest wildlands.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Outdoor Education from Prescott College. David is certified as a Track and Sign Specialist, Trailing Specialist, and Senior Tracker through Cybertracker Conservation and is an Evaluator for this rigorous international professional certification program.
Check out David’s current and recent projects and follow his recent adventures on Instagram and his blog. Find a list of interviews and media coverage on David's work here.
Sarah Spaeth — Wildlife Tracking Instructor
Sarah has a lifetime of exploration of, and connection to the Pacific Northwest, and has worked for Jefferson Land Trust for 28 years helping to preserve the farms, forests and fish habitat of Jefferson County. Her life's work was enriched immeasurably through a wildlife tracking class she took 11 years ago— it opened her eyes fully to the significance of conservation work to the other creatures that share their home with us. Sarah has been studying and teaching wildlife track and sign through the Wilderness Awareness School’s Wildlife Tracking Intensive, and achieved her Track and Sign Specialist Certification in 2020. She is excited to help us learn to read this first script written on the land, telling stories rich in love, mystery, drama and death!
Andrew Stratton — Wildlife Trailing Instructor
Andrew is Project Coordinator on the Olympic Cougar Project, based in western Washington, with 8 years of experience in wildlife research fieldwork. Originally trained in naturalist skills as a tracker through CyberTracker International, holding a professional tracker certificate, which includes a
professional trailing certificate and a specialist in track and sign for Western Washington. He attended Alderleaf Wilderness College, an outdoor skills school for two years. He is currently finishing his degree in wildlife and fisheries conservation through Oregon State University. His professional interests include being in the backcountry, tracking, camera trapping, and training working dogs that assist with the safe capture of cougars.
Peter Yencken — Village Class Instructor
Peter started as a bowyer while working for Tom Brown's Tracking and Wilderness Survival School. He has taught the art of making bows to 2000+ people of all ages. He also makes and teaches knife (of different size and shapes) making; backpack basket making; felt boot making; as well as leather bag, hat and shoe making. Peter has been on a lifelong search for skills that help people reclaim a feeling of self reliance while also providing a focal point for observing oneself more deeply. He currently lives in Ticksville (a.k.a. Charlottesville, VA) and learns much wisdom from his daughter.
Maria Bullock — Basket/Hat Making Instructor
Maria spent much of her youth in a small Polish country village where she gained an early appreciation for the craft of basket-making. She is now on Orcas Island which is in the Salish Sea in Washington State, living on the edge of a wetland marsh on her family’s permaculture farm. On Maria’s homestead, she grows, harvests, and dries a variety of basketry materials. Each of these materials serves as an inspiration. Over the last decade she has studied traditional techniques from both Europe and the U.S. and uses them to create unique pieces that are both functional and beautiful.
Mark Darrach — Botany and Geology Instructor
Mark is a professional conservation botanist and plant taxonomist affiliated with the Burke Museum at the University of Washington. He has worked on plant conservation projects and plant taxonomic research for 30+ years in various settings throughout the western U.S. and Mexico. Mark’s primary research interests lie within the parsley family - Apiaceae, and he is actively describing newly discovered species, particularly in the genus Lomatium. Ongoing molecular genetic research, of which he is a co-investigator, has led to the discovery of many new taxa in this highly speciose group. Mark enjoys teaching and "lighting the flame" of interest in plant in others. He has taught as an instructor in several university settings and as a long-time instructor for the North Cascades Institute as well.
Dr. Nyn Tomkins — Skull/Bone Morphology Instructor
Nyn is a naturalist, anatomy enthusiast, chiropractor, bodyworker and wildlife tracker. She’s a graduate of Wilderness Awareness School’s nine-month Immersion program and is now a guest instructor. She is deeply interested in the story our bodies, in particular our bones, can tell about how we live and relate to the world. She is passionate about teaching anatomy and physiology as a way to help other people relate to and connect with our other than human kin.
Kyle Schultheis — Wilderness Skills Instructor
Kyle grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he spent much of his time exploring the oak savanna landscape. He earned a BS in Geology from Chico state university before spending four years in the military, serving overseas and in snowy upstate New York. Upon exiting the Army, he spent several years living off-grid in a canvas wall tent in the Pacific Northwest and began a new path exploring nature-connected and holistic ways of living.
A graduate of year-long and seasonal wilderness skills programs at Wilderness Awareness School, Alderleaf Wilderness College, Jack Mountain Bushcraft Guide School and Boulder Outdoor Survival School, Kyle has been practicing bushcraft and naturalist skills intensively since arriving in Washington in 2016.
He has earned his Wildlife Track and Sign specialist certification and Level 3 Trailing certification through Cybertracker and maintains a wilderness first responder. He enjoys spending all hours of the day and night in every season living outside, admiring and interacting with wild places, and helping others find what brings them alive in the natural world.
Jason Knight — Wilderness Skills Instructor
Jason is passionate about helping people learn wilderness survival skills. Since 1997 he's taught thousands of people, including training hundreds of adults to become survival instructors. He has consulted as a local wilderness skills expert for the Discovery Channel and has been featured on NPR. He is a co-founder and instructor at Alderleaf Wilderness College, where he has offered courses on wilderness survival to the general public and a broad range of clients including the US Forest Service, the Seattle Mountaineers, and the cast of the award-winning film Captain Fantastic.
Guinevere Martin — Embodied Nature Instructor
Guinevere has dedicated her life to finding ways to reconnect us with our environment. Her goal has been to find ways for us to take a more active role in taking care of nature, reminding us that humans are an integral part of the natural world.
Guinevere spent four years in Ecuador as the project coordinator at Sacred Suenos, a restoration and reforestation project. During this time, she facilitated hands-on learning experiences, helping visitors understand how to live off-grid and build a sustainable life based on Earth First principles.
She then spent eight years as the project coordinator at Green Friends Farm. Here she facilitated educational opportunities for families to learn how to plant and maintain fruit trees using permaculture principles. Guinevere also spent four years as a Naturalist, leading environmental educational hikes in the Marin headlands.
Today, Guinevere focuses much of her work on decreasing the separation between humans and nature, reminding us that nature is not something outside of us, rather that we are an integral part of nature.
Hannah Viano — Nature Journaling Instructor
Hannah is an artist and educator based in the Methow Valley, Washington. “When I started, art was fit in around the edges of a life of teaching and adventures on land and sea. An acrobatics class in Santiago, landscape watercolors in Taos, rigging in Port Townsend, I studied whatever a place had to teach me. Now I strive to use that diverse background to collaborate across disciplines, seeking out projects that give me the opportunity to illustrate important ecological stories, challenge me to compellingly depict subjects and ideas, and use education to foster stewardship and a sense of place. This work comes to life through children’s books, teaching residencies, science outreach, cross- pollinator expeditions, and community focused public art projects. Hannah is also the host and facilitator of the Singla Creative Residency on Arnøya Island, Norway.
@hannahviano (Instagram)
Tim Leavitt — Mycology Instructor
Tim started picking mushrooms at a very early age. While still riding in a backpack, he searched for chanterelles in the woods of Oregon with his father. By the age of 12 he was picking mushrooms and selling them to the local grocery store. Before graduating from college he was already working as a mycologist in the school Herbarium and studying with mycologist, Dr. David Hosford.
After college, Tim went to work for Paul Stamets at Fungi Perfecti where he was introduced to mushroom cultivation. At this point in time, information about mycology was difficult to find and Tim was lucky enough to reside in Paul’s yurt and have access to Paul’s library of clandestine information.
Later he continued studying taxonomy with David Hosford and acquired a new position as Pacific Northwest Regional Mycologist for the United States Dept. of Agriculture.
Tim’s interest in mycology went farther when he invested in a truffle farm that ultimately failed due to Filbert blight. After the truffiere, Tim found himself the proud stay-at-home father of two beautiful girls. Tim switched his focus from ecology, taxonomy and mycorrhizology and began to concentrate on mastering cooking wild mushrooms. This led to the creation of a book called “Cooking Wild Mushrooms For People Who Don’t Like Mushrooms” and being included in the “Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook” along with many other mycologists.
Currently Tim is the owner of the Cedar Falls Treehouse a mycology education center in North Bend Washington. He also created the Cedar Falls Mycology Podcast.
In addition to mycology, Tim also enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, coaching soccer and hunting.
Ramzy Berbawy — Lead Instructor for school-year and summer Youth Programs; Adult Wilderness Skills Instructor
Ramzy’s naturalist journey began stargazing on a football field, sparking a deep passion for the outdoors. He’s since worked on small farms across the Olympic Peninsula and Methow Valley, where he deepened his connection to the land. Ramzy has completed the Wildlife Tracking Intensive with the Wilderness Awareness School and is currently continuing his studies through CedarRoot’s Wildlife Tracking Immersion.
Ramzy is now in his fourth year as a youth nature studies instructor with CedarRoot and is also involved in adult programming. This year, he will co-lead CedarRoot’s new multi-month Wilderness Skills Immersion, sharing his extensive knowledge and mastery with those eager to dive deeper into learning these ancient and essential practices. His hands-on approach and passion for nature inspire his students, equipping them with practical skills and a lasting connection to the wild world around them.
Scott Brinton — Lead Instructor for school-year Youth Programs; Adult Wilderness Skills Instructor
Scott has over two decades of nature education experience. He has mentored hundreds of students in practical wilderness skills and nature awareness. He co-founded the Riekes Nature Studies Department in California, has taught Environmental Science for Peninsula College, and taught Islandwood’s graduate students in the Natural History and Ecology program. Most recently, Scott founded CedarRoot to help continue natural history and rural skills education.
He is passionate about applying ecological lessons discovered in nature to areas of regenerative design, sustainable development and agroecology. Education: B.A. in Agriculture and Alternative Energy, The Evergreen State College; M.A. in Natural History and Education, Prescott College. Certifications: Current Wilderness First Responder and Level 3 Track and Sign certificate, trackercertification.com.
Summer Sondey — Lead Instructor for Youth Summer Camps
Summer was born and raised in the farmlands and forests of Southeast Michigan where the magic of a childhood immersed in the natural world gave her a deep passion and commitment for life lived close to the earth. After graduating from 14 years spent at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, she took the leap far away from her home and found herself landed and in love with the Northwest. Alderleaf Wilderness College was a great introduction to the diverse ecosystems of this area and after completing their year long wilderness immersion course, Summer chose the Olympic Peninsula and began to set roots.