4 Elements Earth Education

Pashu

Richard "Pashu" Esquibel, Lead Instructor, Director of 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.

Rick Berry

Founder / Director

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 14 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.

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

Operations Director & 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.

Ian

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.