Stay tuned for the 2026 Deertrails announcement in June!
To learn more about future Deertrails workshops, please check back on this page in June 2026, or join our Deertrails email list. Email list subscribers will be notified directly of future sessions in advance of the next registration period. To subscribe to the email list, please send a message to admin@conservancy.bc.ca or call our office at 250-479-8053 (toll free 1-877-485-2422).
The Deertrails Naturalist Program is a multiday, adult workshop that invites connection with B.C.’s natural habitats, and conservation community. The program is designed for students, teachers, artists, naturalists – anybody seeking to build resilience into their lives by connecting with the living world.
Workshop Contact
Emily Francis
Communications Manager
Office (Tuesday - Friday): 250-479-8053 or toll-free: 1-877-485-2422
Email: admin@conservancy.bc.ca
FAQs
Past Deertrails Naturalist Programs
From April 25 to 30, 2023, participants explored Cortes Island – the meeting place of tidal waters, biogeoclimatic zones, and cultural territories – through a series of naturalist-led walks and talks. Highlighting TLC’s 1,033 acres of protected areas on the island, students walked shorelines, swam in bracingly cold waters, explored a tapestry of sensitive ecosystems, and searched for northern goshawk plucking posts. Students learned about and deepened their connection to the natural world from seasoned naturalists and artists Briony Penn, Ann Mortifee, Rex Weyler, Sabina Leader Mense, Kristen Scholfield-Sweet, and a cast of Cortesians covering a full spectrum of disciplines.
From April 18 to 23, 2023, in the Clearwater River Valley, naturalist students explored a range of habitats from following deer trails to experiencing spring bird migration. Students explored TLC’s 141 acres of protected wetlands, forests, and wildlife corridors in the Valley and neighbouring Wells Gray Provincial Park with experts Nancy Turner, Maleea Acker, Briony Penn, Lyn Baldwin, Nancy Flood, and Trevor Goward. Aspiring naturalists developed a wide array of skills needed to steward local natural places, educate the public and new naturalists, engage in research and inform conservation efforts.
From April 26 to May 2, 2022, in the Clearwater River Valley, naturalist students explored a range of habitats including following the paths of the deer, pausing awhile in their places of sanctuary and places of power. Students learned about and deepened their connection to the natural world from seasoned naturalists and teachers Lyn Baldwin (ecologist and artist), Maleea Acker (poet and teacher), Nancy Flood (ornithologist and ecologist), Briony Penn (artist and author), and Trevor Goward (lichenologist and place-based naturalist), with special guest instructor Nancy Turner (ethnobiologist and botanist).
While the 2021 in-person Deertrails Naturalist Program sessions were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TLC’s naturalist instructors including Briony Penn (author and artist), Lyn Baldwin (ecologist and artist), Maleea Acker (poet and teacher), Trevor Goward (lichenologist and place-based naturalist), Nancy Turner (ethnobiologist and botanist), and Nancy Flood (ornithologist and ecologist) volunteered to host virtual sessions open to all. The recordings from those thought-provoking lectures and discussions can be found below and on TLC’s YouTube channel.
From the volcanic and glacial formations which shape the landscape of Wells Gray Provincial Park to the hair lichen required to sustain mountain caribou, 13 participants of TLC’s Deertrails Naturalist Program spent a week learning about biological diversity from six renowned experts in their respective fields. Lichenologist Trevor Goward, TLC founder and naturalist Briony Penn, ecologists Lyn Baldwin and Nancy Flood of Thompson Rivers University (TRU), volcanologist Cathie Hickson and forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon shared their expertise hoping to inspire the next generation of naturalists.