KEN CLARKSON, M.S.
DIRECTOR OF AUXILARY PROGRAMS

Ken directs the After School, Explorations, and Middle School Wilderness Skills programs at Birches. Ken has a M.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He is a former biologist for the Kona Forest Unit of the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island where he caught hawks and worked to save the rarest crow on the planet. He was an Environmental Education Specialist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service's San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge where he trained teachers and led youth into the salt marsh. He was a backcountry ranger for Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve where he floated rivers, hiked glaciers, followed herds of caribou, tracked wolves, and avoided grizzly bears. For 11 years prior to moving to the Boston area, he was Nature Awareness Program Director for the Riekes Center in Menlo Park, CA where he instructed wilderness survival and awareness skills. Ken teaches ninjutsu (the art of the ninja) for Pathways Dojo and is the founder and lead instructor for the Ninjas in Nature program. In his spare time he surfs, skis, paints, plays music and writes fiction. He has been trained as a wilderness first responder. In case of emergency he can make a bow drill fire, build a debris shelter, play banjo, or fly a plane.