On the right track
COEUR d'ALENE - When Beth Paragamian began substitute teaching in schools here in 1990, she didn't always follow directions.
The teaching plan left for her often called for reading, writing and arithmetic.
Paragamian, though, had other ideas.
"I would introduce science to a lot of elementary schools," she said.
Science? Doesn't sound like it could keep students from fidgeting in their desks.
It did.
Pretty soon, teachers were calling when they needed a sub and asking for Beth. The next year, Fish and Game was looking for someone to lead an outreach program.
Paragamian applied for it - and got it.
Her first duty was to spread the word.
She had to let schools know who she was, what she did, and why.
That started by sending letters to all the schools.
It didn't take long for word to get out - and demand for Paragamian's program to grow. She also works with BLM and the Forest Service.
"Now, I don't send out letters," she said. "I haven't sent out letters for 18 years."
That's because they're calling her.
The wildlife education specialist makes the rounds to schools, sportsmen's groups, nature centers and community events with her wildly popular animal tracks program.
Paragamian has held the interest of thousands of students with furs, skulls and molds of rubber paws, and tracks of critters including wolverines, badgers, bears, coyotes, wolves, deer, elk and weasels.
She has molds of the foot shape that hits the ground, and of the actual foot.
Few garner the attention of the grizzly paw print, found in Glacier National Park, set in plaster.
"Larger paws are most popular," she said.
Paragamian doesn't lecture and expect students to learn. She has them handle and hold samples of a bobcat's paw, the webbed toes of a beaver or the nonretractable claws of a raccoon.
Her 90-minute program, she said, is "like a college semester course in furs and skulls and tracks, habitats, predator/prey."
Even worksheets are well received.
"My philosophy is, people remember about 50 percent of what they hear. If you just stand up and tell them facts, maybe not even 50, maybe 40, 30 percent.
"If they see something and hear it, too, might be 70, 80 percent."
She wants students to know which animals have five toes in the tracks, like the skunk or bear, and which don't, like the bobcat, whose track shows only four toes because one is higher.
She explains tidbits like the foot of a wolverine is large for one very good reason - it spends about nine months of the year in deep snow.
"We'll talk about their habitat and how their feet are adapted to the type of habitat they have," Paragamian said.
For a test, she produces two cougar paw prints, one small, one large. So, why are they different? Nope, not because one came from a large cougar, one from a small one. The front paw, Paragamian said, is larger.
"In some animals, the heaviest part of their body is in the front of their body, and so their front feet are going to be bigger, and the small part of their body is in the back."
That rule applies to deer, elk, dogs and cats, but not to weasels, rodents, beavers or wolverines.
She'll talk, too, about cats and dogs and why their tracks tend to be different.
Gait, patterns and stride length can tell folks much about animals.
"Cats tend to be solitary hunters, Cougars, bobcats, they hunt by themselves," she said.
She even tells them how to make their own mold if they discover a track in the woods by mixing plaster of Paris and water in a plastic bag.
They have their claws in while they're walking around, which makes them stealthy and quiet. Dogs tend to hunt in packs or pairs, and they're a bit more noisy.
"With claws, even if they make noise, generally they have a group that will hunt down the prey," Paragamian said.
Whether animals jump, bound or waddle, Paragamian wants kids to think about how they move, how they survive, where they live.
There is a story of each animal track left behind, and it's such stories Paragamian shares with students and sportsmen.
"So my philosophy with teaching is hands on," she said.
Feet on works, too.