This past weekend, many Trackers families gathered at our wilderness site in Sandy, Oregon to celebrate the season in true Trackers style. With steaming cups of cocoa in one hand and tiny donuts in the other, we braved the rain to haul our holiday trees onto a hot bed of coals. As each tree erupted in flames, its warmth cut through the chill of the day. At the bonfire were two particularly intrepid siblings, dressed head to toe in proper raingear, Mora knives strapped at their hips, ready for action. When the last tree burned, these kids (and others) didn’t stop—they scoured the forest for more wood, clearing debris from the forest floor. It wasn’t just fun, it was stewardship—a collective effort to clean up long before wildfire season arrives.
People often talk about generational gaps as if they’re defined by technology or social trends. Labels like “digital natives” are applied to Gen Z and Alpha, yet even these tech-savvy kids often need this Gen Xer to help set up their email 🙂 Meanwhile, we overlook how social discourse is shaped—and polarized—by toxic social media platforms. But these are distractions. Generations should not be defined by tech or politics, nor by trendy categories that divide us. I know kids uninterested in smartphones, tweens raising cows for 4-H, and teens working hard at their jobs.
If there was a Trackers Generation, it would be timeless. It would stretch back for nearly 250,000 years, rooted in the enduring human tradition where younger generations learn from elders and elders care for the young. It would be a place where we all share responsibility: holding babies, supporting extended family, and harvesting, foraging, and making food for the community. It would be a time and place where generations aren’t divided. Where kids sit by the fire with a grandma, grandpa, auntie, or uncle, listening to stories about the best berry patch and the trails that lead there—Bear Trail to Saddle Ridge to Elk Meadow. Then the next morning, guided by this story map, set out to gather berries for a buckle— tracking bears, racing to Saddle Ridge, and pausing to watch a herd of elk graze in the meadow.
Today, this kind of connection feels rare. Elders often live apart from family, spending their days with others their age or alone. Kids learn from the flickering campfires of YouTube and TikTok, where there’s little room for an elder’s voice. But Generation Trackers will not race toward modernity, leaving behind the previous. Instead, our goal is a deliberate, thoughtful journey shared by elders, children, the land, and the family stories that bind us all together. It’s kids tending fires through the winter. It’s foraging for berries to bake a buckle. It’s a child learning from their community by sharing stories and sparking new adventures—adventures that have happened long before and will happen far into the future.
This is the essence of the Trackers Generation. It’s not defined by a birth year, but by the timeless connections we foster across the generations, and with nature and each other.
Keep on Tracking,
Tony Deis
Trackers Earth
Founder & Dad