Winooski Headwaters

2025 Program Information

5/17-9/27/2025 including three full weekends 9am-4pm in spring, summer, and fall.

Anyone residing or working in Central Vermont or within the Winooski River Watershed may apply. Candidates in regions of Vermont without a VMN chapter are also welcome to apply. Please contact us if you're not sure. Candidates must be able to attend all field sessions. Arrangements can be made in the event of unexpected absences.
  • May 17-18 (Geology and Soils)
  • June 14-15 (Plants and Animals)
  • September 27-28 (Wetlands and Cultural History)

The fee for the year-long training is $825, due upon acceptance in the program, or paid on a schedule arranged between NBNC and the participant.

Financial Support

Generous financial support is available! We do our best to ensure that participants will not be turned away for financial reasons. Contact us about financial support at: neednature@northbranchnaturecenter.org.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but the cohort is usually finalized by January or early February.

Apply

Study the layers of the physical, environmental, and cultural landscape and select an independent practice chosen to deepen their naturalist skills, such as wilderness awareness, sketching, photography, birding, etc. The six trainings will explore conservation history and management issues related to each site.

Meet your Program Coordinator

Program coordinators act as the core organizer of their local VMN program. They maintain contact with VMN participants and help organize volunteer projects.  They attend field trainings for free and also receive a stipend for the year.

Sean Beckett is the program coordinator for the Winooski Headwaters.

Years ago in Costa Rica, a teenage Sean was awoken by his NBNC trip leader and shuffled into a humming jungle to experience his first dawn chorus of tropical songbirds. He went on to study Biology and Environmental Studies at Vassar College, and received his M.S. from UVM’s Field Naturalist and Ecological Planning Program. Sean has worked extensively as a wildlife ecologist, researching Atlantic Puffins in Maine, Saw-whet Owls in New York, raptors in Idaho, Pygmy-Owls in Mexico, and Clark’s Nutcrackers in Wyoming.

Sean is the NBNC Program Director after years of leading world-class wildlife safaris across North America, taking inquisitive travelers to the threshold of wolf dens, toe-to-toe with polar bears, and to the heart of Utah’s Canyonlands and deserts.

Banner photo by Mary Letourneau.