About Marcia

Marcia's love of animals was immediate and undeniable. Born and raised in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, her first passion was for orcas. She spent hours carefully scanning the horizon for the subtle exhale clouds that indicated they were approaching. This is where Marcia honed the observation skills she'd later use identifying and interpreting wildlife tracks and sign of all kinds.

​

Marcia moved to Austin, Texas in 2009 and immediately got to work learning everything she could about the plants and animals that make Texas so diverse. She spent three years volunteer gardening at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. She received her Permaculture Design Course Certification in 2012 from the Permaculture Institute. In 2014, she became a certified Texas Master Naturalist, serving as president of the Lost Pines chapter from 2017 through 2019.

​

As a Texas Master Naturalist, she began leading interpretive hikes at the local state parks. She found that her hikes typically revolved around the park wildlife and their tracks and sign. In an effort to learn more, Marcia took a weekend tracking workshop through Earth Native Wilderness School in 2017 and hasn't stopped tracking since.

​

She has participated in Earth Native’s Wildlife Tracking Intensive since 2017, first as a student, then as a teacher's assistant, and now is a co-lead instructor. She also teaches Introduction to Wildlife Tracking and Bird Feather Identification. She 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. She is one of only 4 in Texas and 39th in North America to attain this level of certification.

​

In her free time, she is a beekeeper, a chicken-wrangler, and a totally-within-reason-not-at-all-crazy cat lover.