4E Instructors & Staff
4 Elements Earth Education brings the arts of wilderness survival to life through outdoor
adventure, storytelling, and hands-on development of Earth skills.
adventure, storytelling, and hands-on development of Earth skills.
Rick Berry, Founder and Director
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Rick Berry began with the Tracker School in 1986 at the age of 15, and has been teaching these skills for the past 30 years. After graduating with a B.S. from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA, Rick honed 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 care-taker for the Tracker School, 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. Read Letter From Tom Brown from 2010. Rick, Cherokee Descent, (Grandmother was part of the Red Bird Stokes Stomp Ground in Vian, Oklahoma), has been working in collaboration with the Siakumne Maidu Tribe for the past 10 years creating the Fox Walkers youth programs at Pata Panaka / Burton Educational Preserve in Nevada City, CA. In 2019 Rick was asked to be the Executive Director of The Children of the Earth Foundation; Rick will oversee Coyote Tracks Programs under the 4EEE west coast non-profit umbrella. |
FOX WALKERS (California-based) TEAM
Richard "Pashu" Esquibel, Lead Instructor, Fox Walkers Youth Programs
Pashu grew up playing in the out-of-doors, learning wood working skills, camping, hiking and fishing. As a child he also learned bow making and leather work from a Choctaw-Apache elder named Long-Trader. In 2007 he attended the Tracker School and is highly passionate and self motivated in working skills and dedicated to passing on the old ways. His passion for the skills shows in his hand made bows, arrows, baskets, buckskins, stone and bone tools. Pashu holds a deep respect for nature and loves teaching the sacred old ways skills to anyone that is willing to learn.
Ian Wolf, Fox Walkers Youth Programs Instructor
Ian grew up in Nevada City, California, and began learning ancestral skills through Fox Walkers at the age of 9. When Ian was 16 he began attending Tracker School classes and has since become a full-time instructor and skills enthusiast with 4EEE.
As a previous student, Ian has a unique appreciation for the importance of nature connection in youth. He believes that the first step to healing the earth is to raise people who care for and feel connected with the beauty of nature that surrounds them, and is committed to achieving this goal.
As a previous student, Ian has a unique appreciation for the importance of nature connection in youth. He believes that the first step to healing the earth is to raise people who care for and feel connected with the beauty of nature that surrounds them, and is committed to achieving this goal.
Mary Chapman, Fox Walkers Youth Programs Instructor
Mary Chapman grew up in the east Bay Area with her adventurous family exploring the natural surroundings and learned a deep reverence for nature at a young age. Sunday morning excursions became church, and this shaped her understanding of our relationship with nature as the most sacred and profound journey this life offers. An avid gymnast, acrobat and circus performer, led to embodiment and deeper awareness which eventually led to yoga, and mindfulness practices honing a deep appreciation for balance in all things. For years she taught kids, teens and adults in many movement arts realms. Her love for warm weather and ocean adventures took her to Hawai’i where she lived 12 years, got her bachelors degree in kinesiology and learned to live off the land. Growing food, foraging, natural building and learning the Hawaiian ways became a lifestyle. She had a lead role in an off-grid sustainable community that ran programs helping kids interact with the land in a playful and respectful way. Now back to her roots of California, she is embarking on a journey facilitating the youth to develop a healthy relationship with nature. She believes it is our responsibility and privilege to caretake this earth, and really the most important thing we can do as a humans is to leave it better off than it was when we got here. For Mary, gratitude and service lead the way, and she is a forever student of the forest. Honored to be working with Fox Walkers teaching the skills to thrive in our natural environment.
Tam Andrews, Fox Walkers Youth Programs Instructor
Tam was born & raised in South Africa and has always had an appreciation for wild animals and nature. Tam has studied Earth Skills for the last 9 years attending the Tracker School in NJ as a student then completed the intern program and later as a Caretaker. Tam also attended programs at Tribal Edge and Earthwalk Northwest in the PNW. In 2016 & 2017, Tam helped develop, implement and teach a primitive skills program at a Summer Camp in Alberta Canada. Tam loves being in the mountains, hiking, camping, foraging and is passionate about basketry and pottery.
It’s Tam’s vision to create a sacred space for the great mystery to unfold, for voices to be heard and to be a witness of transformation and growth. Honoring the old ways, to connect to the earth in a way that allows us to flourish and grow. Learning its secrets, respecting our part in the environment and honoring the gifts nature has to offer.
It’s Tam’s vision to create a sacred space for the great mystery to unfold, for voices to be heard and to be a witness of transformation and growth. Honoring the old ways, to connect to the earth in a way that allows us to flourish and grow. Learning its secrets, respecting our part in the environment and honoring the gifts nature has to offer.
COYOTE TRACKS (Philadelphia-based) TEAM
Jamie Coyle, Coyote Tracks Lead Instructor and Program Director
Jamie Coyle is from Philadelphia, PA. He joined 4 Elements Earth Education in 2013. For 10 years, he has been a student of Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School and is inspired by the endless discoveries realized throughout the process of learning Earth Skills. Jamie has a Bachelor of Sciences degree from Northern Vermont University and a Wilderness First Responder Certification. He has worked as a professional ski patroller and served as a lead teacher of a nature-preschool class. While working towards his degree, he completed a 16-credit internship with 4 Elements Earth Education. Jamie has worked children, family, and teen wilderness programs with 4EEE from the East Coast to the West Coast of the US, and even up into Alaska. He enjoys nothing more than sharing time in natural settings with people of all ages, and is constantly hoping to learn the many lessons the Earth has to teach us all.
Rose Hammerman, Coyote Tracks Youth Programs Instructor
Rose completed her B.A. in Community Education at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Her thesis focused on Adventure “Junk” Playgrounds, and the benefits of child development and of educating children in natural surroundings. Using the research, Rose designed and built an Adventure Classroom at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia. Rose’s background in early childhood education was formed through her education as well as her previous 16 years experience as a nanny, daycare teacher, and postnatal yoga teacher. Above all, she is an avid believer in the power of play as a catalyst for teaching compassion, exploration, empathy, and for fostering growth in young children and families. As a Forest School teacher, Rose uses the natural environments as learning tools to educate the Whole Child. Rose’s own educational journey was rooted in project-based, self-directed learning. Having attended five colleges and two high schools, she experienced a diversity of both progressive education institutions, as well as the traditional public model. Combining the beneficial components of each learning experience, and the research; Rose developed her teaching style as a Preschool teacher into what she often refers to as Free-Range Education.
Jess D'Amico, Coyote Tracks Youth Programs Assistant Instructor
Jess grew up enjoying the outdoors by spending a lot of time in the woods and beaches of Central NJ. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Biology & minor in Environmental Science from St. Joseph’s University she fell in love with the Philadelphia area, especially having the Wissahickon nearby. After spending 7 years as a high school biology teacher, she started a family nature club to meet other urban families who loved having unstructured free play for their children in the woods. Her children have attended Coyote Tracks after school programming continuously over the past 3 years. After seeing how her family thrived as they deepened their connection with nature, she knew she wanted to learn more about the skills that foster nature awareness and help teach them to others.
Juan Villarreal, Founding Board Member, Current Board Member, and Visiting Instructor
Juan, Southern Lipan Apache, connected with Rick in 2007 through the Tracker School. Passionate about keeping the old skills alive, Juan brings a unique indigenous view-point to every educational experience.
Whether he's helping lead 4EEE programs or teaching classes through his own organization, Juan serves as a gentle guide, helping people create sacred relationships with the land and life, as a care-taker and healer.
A sister organization to 4EEE, Juan's Sacred Wind Earth Teachings program is located in Alice, TX and is dedicated to helping groups and individuals learn, share, and teach ancestral, holistic ways of living.
Whether he's helping lead 4EEE programs or teaching classes through his own organization, Juan serves as a gentle guide, helping people create sacred relationships with the land and life, as a care-taker and healer.
A sister organization to 4EEE, Juan's Sacred Wind Earth Teachings program is located in Alice, TX and is dedicated to helping groups and individuals learn, share, and teach ancestral, holistic ways of living.
Lawrence Laughing, Cultural Specialist Instructor
Lawrence Laughing (Ahrawenrateh) brings a unique skill set to Fox Walkers of sharing his Haudenosaunee
(People of the Long House) Ways to youth. Through stories, song, and round dance, Lawrence brings lessons on many levels to our program.
(People of the Long House) Ways to youth. Through stories, song, and round dance, Lawrence brings lessons on many levels to our program.
Geoff Fisher, Visiting Instructor
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Geoff has studied with many survival arts teachers, first inspired by his high school teacher and then Tom Brown Jr. and the Tracker School. Geoff studied with Frank and Karen Sherwood through their Primitive Living Apprenticeship in 2008. Geoff instructs at various "Ancestral Arts" gatherings as well as with 4EEE and the Fox Walkers, where he brings his passion of Rock Tool making and love of working with youth.
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Tony Cervantes, Cultural Specialist Instructor
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?"