History & Instructors

Frank and Karen Sherwood founded Earthwalk Northwest in 1995. Both served as head instructors at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School on the East Coast for over 15 years. While there, they not only taught primitive living skills to thousands of students, but also developed and taught additional programs which they now continue through Earthwalk Northwest.

Frank grew up hunting and fishing in the Northwest. He has a recreational leadership degree and specializes in teaching bow making, traditional tanning, and wilderness survival courses to a diversity of students, including military, law enforcement agencies, the Boy Scouts, and children. To keep current with his own level of expertise, Frank has studied with some of the leading primitive technologists in this country including Steve Allely, Errett Callahan, Jack Cresson, Jim Hamm, Dan Stueber, and Charles Worsham. Frank’s mastery of skills, and his ability to help others master skills of their own, makes him a unique and effective professional.

Karen is a Northwest native who grew up studying the flora of the Pacific Northwest. While studying at the University of Washington, she was hired by Tom Brown Jr. to develop and expand the wild foods curriculum for the Tracker School. Karen gained a strong understanding of traditional uses of wild plants while teaching there. Since returning home to the Northwest, she continues to teach ethnobotany programs through Earthwalk Northwest and other organizations such as the Department of Ecology, Washington Outdoor Women, King County Parks and The Earth Mentoring Institute. In addition to her botany background, Karen also spent many years in search and rescue, fine tuning her wilderness survival skills. To balance her expertise, she also teaches utilitarian uses of plants, including cordage and natural plant dyes. Her professionalism and credibility are enhanced by a special gift for helping students become confident and comfortable with harvesting and using plants. Her current passion is teaching about the vast and wondrous uses of seaweeds, as well as traditional Northwest basketry.

As founders of Earthwalk Northwest, Frank and Karen provide internationally known programs where students feel safe and successful learning primitive skills. The thousands of students they have taught will confirm their passionate interest in learning and passing on the ancient art of living from, and caretaking for, the earth. Together, they are a competent and effective team for helping others discover the excitement of mastering primitive living skills.

Frank and Karen are supportive of organizations that help promote earth awareness and responsible stewardship. They are currently on the board of directors for the Foundation for Funding Nature’s Defenders as well as supporters of Washington Outdoor Women, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Washington Native Plant Society. They volunteer their time annually to teach traditional skills at the American Indian Health Conference in California.

Dan Stueber: Dan Stueber, expert flintknapper and practitioner of primitive skills, joins to teach our lithic technologies courses. He brings with him over 20 years experience and expertise analyzing and replicating lithic materials. A drummer by trade, Dan continues his percussion work in stone to create some of the most stunning arrowheads and stone knives we have seen. We know you will enjoy his vast knowledge, friendly manner, and endless enthusiasm for this craft.

Bart Moody: Bart is a 17 year law enforcement veteran who has been tracking animals and humans for most of that time. He works with the police K-9 Unit and has been called upon by many law enforcement agencies to assist with crime scenes as well as tracking missing persons. To add to his extensive background, Bart has attended numerous tracking institutes throughout the United States and has also studied with South African trackers. He brings with him a great sense of humor and a deep passion for teaching.

Joe Roush: Joe was bitten by the "wild" bug at the tender age of 8 when his father told him he could make a whistle from a willow branch and lemonade out of sumac berries. Joe's pursuit of willow whistles and sumac lemonade sent him on a lifelong journey of nature study that included a Bachelor's degree in forest science and a 20 year career as a naturalist, forester and arborist, all the while never giving up his true interest in wild edible plants and primitive skills. When he's not saving and planting trees as Olympia's urban forester, Joe spends his time hiking in the wilds of Washington, eating wild foods, and teaching grade school students how to make whistles out of willow branches and lemonade out of sumac berries."

Mike Isaac: Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Mike was catching steelhead before he was 7 years old. He had his own drift boat before he was old enough to drive a car, and by the time he was out of high school, Mike was catching (and releasing) dozens of steelhead each season. His passion for angling led him into the tackle industry, where he has worked as a salesman, tester, and developer. Mike was also a Washington State Steelhead Guide, as well as a professional fishing guide in Alaska. An outstanding educator, Mike specializes in teaching fishing techniques, streamside entomology, fly casting, and his "On The Water" clinics. You may have even seen Mike in his guest appearance on the hunting show "Upland Days with Dez and Dash", as it aired on the Outdoor Life Network. Angling students of all levels will be blown away by the depth of knowledge Mike Isaac has to share with them as our Fishing Specialist in The Path of The Hunter Mentoring Program.