Since 1992, Daniel has moved seasonally between opposite ends of the earth. Living in Alaska and Patagonia, he migrates with the sun and the birds, spending many of his northern summers with bears in Alaska and his southern summers in the temperate Patagonian rain forests of Chile and Argentina. A naturalist and teacher, he has lived and worked throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Bolivia, Chile and Costa Rica. He continues his northerly summer migration as a guide for Nat Hab’s Alaska wildlife safaris.

Dan's special connection to bears sprang from his work on an Andean Spectacled Bear study in Bolivia. He followed it up with four summers of living and working in Denali National Park, where he gained a deep knowledge of and appreciation for the region as he found ample time to observe bears in the wild. He started guiding in college, leading snorkeling and diving trips in the Florida Keys. He currently teaches university field study courses in Chile, an extension of programs that he has organized and led throughout the Central and Southern Andes in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina since 2008. He has also guided field studies in New Zealand.

Raised in Wisconsin’s cold North Woods, Daniel realized early on that there were other equally impressive places with larger mountains to climb and rich cultures to learn about. Mountains lured him to Colorado, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a focus on Latin American archaeology. In graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, his focus turned to mountain ecology, agro-ecology and changing forest ecosystems in Bolivia’s high Andes. He remains keenly interested in botany, and in the practical and traditional uses of plants by both animals and people.

Currently, Dan lives with his family in Paonia, Colorado, surrounded by the mountains and irrigated deserts of the state's Western Slope. He spends his free time gardening, taking photographs and exploring the mountains and canyons of the American Southwest. In addition to gazing upon breathtaking mountains and fjords, Dan’s primary interests include ornithology and sustainable resource management for protected areas and wilderness.