Ed Bieber Owner and Director
Ed Bieber is the Owner/Director of The Nature Place Day Camp. He has a B.A. degree from Rutgers University in Botany, M.S. from Michigan State University in Outdoor Education and New York State Permanent Teaching Certification, N-6. Ed has worked professionally, since 1970, with over 250,000 children (and still counting!), adults and families in the outdoors. He was director of Lakeside Nature Center (1/2 mile from our Nature Place campus) until 1976 and then, and still, an independent naturalist/outdoor educator at many schools in the metropolitan area. In 1976 he created The Nature Place Day Camp, Rockland County’s first non-competitive, nature-oriented private day camp. In 1982 he received the N.Y. State Outdoor Education Association’s Golden Award for contributions to the field of environmental/outdoor education.
In September of 2009 Ed received the great honor of having September 16 proclaimed “Ed Bieber Day in Rockland County” by the Rockland County Legislature. This award was for his 40 years of making a difference in children’s lives through outdoor/environmental education. He has just finished writing an outdoor guide for parents called ‘What Color is the Wind’.
Whether he is organizing conferences, designing new outdoor programs, writing, leading hikes, tapping maple trees or sharing the quiet wonder of a resting dragonfly with campers, Ed, through his work, combines his knowledge of children with his natural creativity and enthusiasm for teaching.
Scott Dunn Director of Programming
Scott has been working in the camping field since 1969, when he started as a sixteen year old waterfront instructor at Onteora Boy Scout Reservation near Livingston Manor, New York. Working with children and teaching in the outdoors have continued throughout his life to this day. Scott’s educational and professional background have led to expertise in many fields including first aid, forest biology, art, architecture and design, aquatics, primitive and wilderness living skills, sailing and canoeing, organic gardening, construction and fine woodworking. He is an expert outdoor educator with extensive experience leading wilderness adventure trips in The Adirondacks, The Catskills, on The Delaware River and in Harriman State Park. For over thirty years as a camp professional, Scott has worked creating, implementing and directing experiential learning programs for camps, schools and youth organizations.
Staff training, team building and leadership training are some of Scott’s strong suits. He has worked with: The Boy Scouts, Rosmarin’s Day Camp, The Union of Reform Judaism’s Camp Shalom Day Camp and its National Teen Leadership Training Academy at Kutz Camp, The Warwick Valley School District, Green Meadow Waldorf School, Threefold Educational Center, Wellspring Living Arts, Cornell Cooperative Extension, The 4-H and Americorps. Through the years he has mentored, coached, taught, counseled and trained thousands of young people. Scott started working with Ed at The Nature Place Day Camp in 1990 and is wholeheartedly dedicated to its mission of connecting children to the wondrous world of nature.
Daniel Bieber Administrative Director
Daniel has been at The Nature Place Day Camp since the age of 3. After his last years as a camper in the Quest program he worked at The Nature Place in various capacities, including as archery instructor, member of the camping department, Teen group leader and Unit Leader. Daniel holds a bachelor’s degree in music composition and performance from Bard College, and is an active musician and performer playing cello and upright bass in New York City. Also a graduate of Green Meadow Waldorf School, Daniel’s strengths are in communication, outreach and development.