OUR TEAM
Rainbow Dreamer
Founder and Instructor
Rainbow Dreamer is a visionary healer, artist, teacher, and new father. He founded Wildheart Nature School in 2011, where he nurtures and enlightens young minds with care and joy. Alongside his teaching role, Dreamer has delved into the art of brain tanning and other ancestral skills. While his expertise lies in deer skin, he has worked with a variety of animals such as elk, beaver, raccoon, squirrel, otter, fish, snake, buffalo, and bear. Beyond tanning and crafting sacred items, Dreamer immerses himself in the woods, studying animal tracking and honing his connection with nature. Recently, he has discovered a passion for ultra-marathons and paddleboarding. Dreamer holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Prescott College, specializing in Medical Anthropology and Environmental Studies. His natural aptitude for working with young people instills in them an appreciation for the natural world, fostering excitement and curiosity. Certified by the IAKP for Kambo Ceremonies and by the American Heart Association in Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED, Dreamer ensures a safe and professional environment.
Amara Dreamer
Founder, Program Director, and Instructor
As a lover of nature, Amara Dreamer teaches connection and respect for the natural world in all of her pursuits. She founded Wildheart Nature School in 2011. Amara’s nature experience includes farming edible and medicinal plants, facilitating classes to preserve indigenous and natural life ways, working for a wilderness protection non-profit, backpacking, undergoing nature-based rite of passage initiations, and spending a lot of time simply being in outdoors. A student of wisdom traditions from North and South America, Amara holds a Bachelor’s degree from Arizona’s Prescott College, with a competence in Cultural Anthropology and a breadth in Environmental Studies. In alignment with the college’s mission to promote social justice and environmental sustainability, Amara focuses much of her time on social and environmental education for children and adults in her community. She believes in bringing young people as well as adults the opportunity to develop an intimate understanding of nature that will help them live in harmony with the earth. Amara is certified in Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED by the American Heart Association.
Margaret Persaud
Early Childhood Teacher
A New York native, Margaret has worked closely with children and parents for over a decade in the classroom, at home and in summer camps. She began her undergraduate studies majoring in Early Childhood Education. Becoming discouraged with the current model of education, she left school in search of a more holistic approach. While living in Sedona, Arizona, she discovered Maria Montessori and Rudolph Steiner’s alternative pedagogies of instruction. It was then that she started to structure her philosophy of education around the physical, academic, social-emotional, and spiritual needs of the child. She believes that an integration of these practices will nurture children to be uniquely themselves while creating a strong sense of social responsibility and accountability for caring for our planet.
Margaret received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Early Childhood Education from Long Island University. She studied at the West Side Montessori School receiving her American Montessori Society certification for children ages three to six. It was there that she became involved as a Diversity Council representative, a SEED (Seeking Equity in Education and Diversity) member and Peace advocate. Margaret has worked with schools to provide Social-Emotional Learning workshops focusing on non-violent communication, kindness curriculum, and mind-body-wellness practices for educators and children alike. She believes that the transformation of self is the key to transforming our relationships and our community. The collective well-being can only be addressed as deeply and authentically as we show up to meet ourselves.
Margaret and her daughter Grace enjoy cooking, yoga, dance, art, meditation, camping and soaking in hot springs. Margaret is certified in Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED by the American Heart Association.
Laura Parker
Operating Manager/Instructor
Laura Marie Parker was born in Bend, Oregon, where she spent much of her early childhood years climbing the crab apple tree, cross-country skiing and hunting for crayfish in the river across the street from her house. From a young age she helped her dad clean wild poultry after his hunts, which nurtured an important appreciation for the giveaway of the animals.
Laura majored in Literary Discourse at Eastern Oregon University and tutored writing at COCC. She is a published Author, Intuitive Healer, Community Created Herbalist (CCH), Tarot Reader, Wildheart Nature School Operating Manager and Instructor, and Creator of the Green Witches Program for Girls. She is a Green Witch, mother to three boys, and a part of Team Soulmate (with her partner Jacob Joseph Norris). Laura published her first novel, “The Year I Lived Dangerously: A Traveling Memoir” in 2018; which is an exploration of finding Autonomy and her Soul’s purpose, after growing up trying to protect others from facing their own shadows.
After birthing three boys and spending many years studying the art of healing with intuition, tarot and herbs, she furthered her studies in 2015 when she began her correspondence course with Susun Weed, her mentor in Herbalism. She practices the Wise Woman Tradition and has many mentors, including Susun S. Weed and Lynn V. Andrews. Laura offers shamanic herbal consultations, ceremony for life transitions, herbal classes and workshops, Tarot Readings and family Herbalism. Laura lives in Bend, Oregon with her sweetheart their three boys.
She is certified in First Aid/CPR.
Joe Abel
Instructor
Joe grew up living in Southern California in sunny San Diego. Joe was fortunate to live so close to the beach and exposed to San Diego’s rich biological diversity, both on land and in the waters off the coastline at an early age. Throughout his childhood, he would attend the Junior Rangers program bordering San Ysidro and Tijunna learning about the ecology of estuaries and the importance of wetlands to the ecosystem in Southern/ Baja California. This ultimately ignited a lifelong meaningful appreciation of nature and inspired him to act as a steward in his community. During his summers in his childhood every year he would also visit his grandparents in upstate New York near Rochester and be immersed in the tranquil beauty of its rural surroundings, including trips to the local fish hatchery and the Audobon Bird Sanctuary near his grandparents home. These experiences would help stimulate his deep love of being outside in nature throughout his life.
Early on in life being around his younger neighbors he found himself to be a mentor to them and found his calling of working with youth. Joe graduated from San Jose State with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child & Adolescent Development with a focus on working in community programs. He has worked with children/adolescents for about a decade in various educational/recreational settings ranging from children museums, after school programs, summer camps, and city recreation programs for youth. Growing tired of the typical education model system, Joe decided to leave/move from California to Oregon in search of an educational program for youth that aligned more in tune with his own beliefs/core values which led him to be an instructor here at Wildheart Nature School! In his free time, Joe likes to hike/explore the central Oregon region with his dog, ride his bike, skateboard, go long distance running, paddle boarding and creating various art projects/crafts.
He is certified in Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED by the American Heart Association.
Katerina Brown
Instructor and Administrator
Katerina Brown
As an international traveler with deep roots in the Appalachian mountains, Katerina has a strong connection with the natural world. She desires for all people to have access to nature education and strives to help others appreciate and respect our Earth.
Her kind, compassionate personality and innate ability to teach and work with children was sparked in her youth when she helped raise her younger sister. From there, she taught at summer camps, Girl Scouts, art and music classes, mentored, and tutored one-on-one. Realizing how to offer these gifts in college (University of North Carolina at Wilmington), she studied Social Work and focused on supporting and empowering children and families, specifically those at-risk, low income, and disabled. She ran non-profit programs such as the Strengthening Families and the Grandparent Support Network. Katerina believes everyone deserves a safe outlet for full self-expression.
She is also an Earth Path Education (Asheville, NC) instructor, with a dedication of inspiring and connecting as many children, despite age or demographic, to the magic of our surrounding plants, animals, and elements. As a dancer and a certified yoga teacher for children and adults, she truly believes in the power of body movement.
Today, she brings her love of nature into her pottery work and her birth work. She is a certified labor (Hypnobabies) and postpartum doula, lactation counselor, and placenta specialist who has also studied with herbalists in women’s health. Having grown her own foods and medicines, she believes in the healing power of plants and is an advocate for living with the land. Her dedication to sacred songs and sweat lodge ceremonies has allowed her to dive deep into her spirituality and truly understand the importance of preserving tradition and the earth itself.
Clay Savely
Instructor
Clay was fortunate to grow up in the dense Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina on a magical property with flowing creeks, springs, lush, diverse rain-enhanced forests, and abundant animal life. He spent most of his time outdoors as his parents encouraged a deep connection with the spirit of the land. Clay developed a deep connection with the forest and the unseen forces alive within the micro and macro worlds of wonder at an early age. Through growing food with his family, he became intimately connected with the cycles of the seasons.
As he grew older, Clay learned more about himself and the world through traveling, music, art, and community. Eventually going to college at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington on the Atlantic Ocean, he discovered a deep connection with fire and water through the presence of the ocean and the wonders of creating fire out in the forests at night. He studied Environmental Science, Film, and Creative Writing with some time abroad in Australia as well with an abundance of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Clay eventually realized that instead of being a scientist and studying nature, he wanted to work with children and open their minds and hearts up to the vast wonders and spiritual connection that he had experienced first-hand as a child and young adult. He was called back to the mountains after school and began teaching for experiential education groups outside of Asheville. He fell in love with guiding trips in Pisgah National Forest, a temperate rainforest with remnants of the magic first encountered and revered by the Cherokee peoples.
Clay is passionate about teaching primitive skills, survival skills, plant knowledge, environmental science, writing, nature art, and ceramics among many other things. He particularly enjoys sharing his father’s unique art form of impressing plants and flowers into clay and creating complex designs inspired by nature’s majestic creations. He is certified in Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED by the American Heart Association.
Nicole Blume
Instructor
As the daughter of a retired National Park Ranger, Nicole grew up with a deep love and respect for nature that has inspired the course of her life’s path. Although born in Los Angeles, her parents took every opportunity to get outdoors on hikes, kayaks, canoes, snorkeling adventures, camping trips, and remote travel locales, from trekking across Alaskan glaciers to hiking in tropical Fijian forests to swimming with sea turtles in Hawaii. Blessed to have access to nature as a child, Nicole is passionate about sharing her love of nature with children from all walks of life.
Nicole also grew up on a backyard sanctuary for abandoned, abused, and endangered tortoises, where she cared for a wide variety of rare and exotic species. From her beloved tortoises she gained a deep wisdom about slow time and the seasonal rhythms of animals. A longtime Girl Scout who earned her Gold Award and led countless camps for kids, Nicole also learned invaluable nature-based and leadership skills while immersed in a community of caring and empowered women and girls.
As a lifelong lover of young adult fantasy literature, Nicole has read thousands of fantasy books, written numerous stories, and created fantasy-themed art projects in a variety of mediums, from drawing and painting to wood, metal, leather, and stone. Her love of fantasy books led her to major in English Literature at UC Berkeley with a concentration in Children’s Literature. After graduating, she quickly became disillusioned with the corporate world, and returned to school to become a teacher.
In addition to earning her preliminary multiple subjects teaching credential, Nicole graduated from both the Waldorf Institute of Southern California and the Waldorf Practical Arts Training program. As a dual-certified Waldorf teacher, she has worked as a mixed-age kindergarten summer camp teacher, teaching assistant, woodworking and practical arts teacher, and class teacher for a variety of ages and grade levels. She enjoys beeswax candle dipping, reed and pine needle basket weaving, eco-dye printing, traditional woodworking, and a variety of other natural crafts.
Nicole felt happiest and the most at peace as a child when she was meandering the woods and forests, crafting simple playthings out of twigs and leaves, and dreaming of the day she would leave the big city for a countryside life–which she found here in Bend, Oregon with her life partner and two children.
She is certified First Aid CPR AED by the American Red Cross
Tess Baldino
Instructor
Tess remembers her first language not through talk but through the body and intuition. She was raised in Connecticut, around the woods and alongside the streams. Tess has been fortunate enough to call many different places her home. She has found herself traveling over the years as she follows her deeper longings.
Tess has a Social Work degree and most recently has been a part of Wilderness Therapy work. Tess is skilled in crisis intervention, trauma and addiction-based treatment. Nature and mindfulness have been a key part to her teachings and parallel healing journey. Tess believes in (and uses) somatic based practices alongside creative thinking, playing, and wonder. She moves through the world as a student, ever seeking from all.
Tess is devoted to cultivating relationships with all the beings of this land- unknown and known, seen and unseen. She is inspired by color and movement and finds herself attuned to the seasons.
Lots of her time is spent creating beautiful meals/baked goods, farming/gardening, reading/writing, and, using her hands to craft with clay, wood, and beads. Tess also makes sure she has time to hike, camp, fish, learn new primitive skills, dance, and practice yoga.
Tess will continue to live in apprenticeship with this world and herself.
*Certified in CPR/First Aid, WFR, Aegis; crisis de-escalation.
Patrick Fitzpatrick
Instructor
Fitz, also known as Patrick, grew up in Northern California. He was raised in a loving home that found solace and spiritual connection through camping and the ocean. He has a deep appreciation for music, mountain trekking, communal gatherings, breathwork, and ecstatic movement. At UC Santa Barbara, he pursued environmental studies as his major and spatial studies as his minor, which fueled his passion for the natural world.
Fitz has extensive experience leading summer camps and teaching English to students of various ages in Spain. These experiences have shaped him into a dynamic instructor who values growth and play in equal measure.
Fitz is a firm believer in immersing children in the natural world, as he believes that the most profound lessons we learn in life come from our connection with nature. He upholds heart-centered awareness and embodies kindness and compassion as core virtues of living. While mentoring his students, he encourages their curiosity and intuition. You can find Fitz leading his students through music, whether he’s drumming, strumming the guitar, or singing. Whether it’s deep in the mountains or high in the desert, he’s committed to building a bridge of spiritual remembrance through music and the great outdoors.
Chance Stevens
Instructor
Chance Stevens is a passionate nature lover who has a special connection with reptiles and amphibians.
Chance was born in Portland, Oregon, then moved to a horse rescue ranch in Bend when he was seven, where the city kid quickly turned into a nature kid. Living in Central Oregon, his love of reptiles started to blossom. At the age of thirteen, he moved across the country to Maine; six months later, he moved back out west and headed south into a new country, Mexico, where he and his family settled in Baja California Sur.
Currently, Chance’s preferred habitat is the cactus forest of Southern Baja, where he spends his time exploring the depths of the spiky, surprisingly-diverse desert. When he arrives in Bend each summer, he is always surprised by the freezing 60 and 70-degree temperatures!
In 2022, Chance founded the Southern Baja Herpetological Society, and began writing a weekly column called All Things Reptile. He leads regular public Reptile Walks and works as an expedition leader at Camp Dancing Birds. Chance also volunteers with the field research team from the San Diego Natural History Museum Department of Herpetology and local Mexican non-profit scientific organizations, contributing to their ongoing reptile survey projects. This year, Chance has been awarded a Founders Fellow Scholarship by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) and will be attending the SSAR annual meeting and conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Chance is certified in Adult and Pediatric CPR/AED and First Aid.
Adam Tutor
Instructor
Adam is a men’s coach & spiritual wilderness guide and is here to inspire men to radical responsibility, conscious commitment, and wild discipline. Through 1-on-1 coaching, immersive wilderness retreats, and sacred circles, he reignites men’s hearts by leading them back to the earth.
Aspen Terry
Instructor
A Bend native, Aspen has cultivated a deep relationship with the beautiful ecosystems that commingle within the Pacific Northwest. Aspen has always been fascinated by the interconnectedness that exists between all species. Through that fascination, she has developed a passion for ecology and has fostered an evolving connection with the abundance of medicinal and edible plants in Central Oregon. Her deep passion for the natural world has lead her to graduate with an associates degree in biology at Central Oregon Community College. Aspen has also taught dance classes for young children throughout the years. Aspen feels that it’s vital to facilitate environments for our new generations to connect with nature in an interactive way. She believes that each child has a gift to share with the world. Her intention at Wildheart is to hold space for children to explore the unique spark of passion within themselves, and allow it to shine and ripple out into the world. When Aspen is not spending time outdoors, she is typically making music, dancing, practicing yoga and meditation, gardening, or traveling.
Sophia Lukin
Instructor
Sophia grew up in Ukraine, then moved to Washington state as an eight-year-old. She grew up homeschooled and spent a lot of time traveling the US with her family. She now lives in Bend and she loves the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and all the amazing people she has met.
She started working with kids through her local rock climbing gym as a coach and counselor and fell in love with teaching and how much creativity, enthusiasm and fun children bring into everything they do.
Sophia has been working with kids for the past five years. She loves seeing kids learn, grow and experience the world around them. During the school year she works with preschoolers at a Montessori School in Ashland, Oregon, where she and the students create Waldorf inspired art and crafts, and spend a lot of the day outside in the field, playing games together and building forts.
Sophia is passionate about the outdoors and alternative education and believes that rhythm and presence create connection and that is what she workst to create in the classroom with her students.
When she is not teaching kids and prepping her classroom projects, she enjoys spending the days skiing on the mountain, rock climbing, hiking/biking, going on spontaneous adventures, cooking and playing card games.
Sophia loves to have fun! She loves field games, swimming in in the lake, hiking barefoot and having spa days by the river 🙂
Ian Story
Instructor
As a kid growing up in middle Georgia, Ian remembers learning about the world mainly through playing outside and running through the thick Georgia woods with his friends and siblings.
Being home schooled for most of elementary school allowed him to spend a majority of his childhood out in nature, learning in awe and respect for the outdoors and wildlife. He shared his passion for the outdoors with his students at a local Summer camp in Georgia where he worked as a Camp Counselor for most of his Summers through high school and college.
Leading kids through various activities, including crafts, hikes, kayaking and games solidified Ian’s desire to be around nature, which led him to move to Colorado after graduating from college, where he enjoyed tons of hiking and camping with friends and snowboarding.
After a few years, Ian felt the call to keep exploring and moved to Bend with his cousin in 2023 and is looking forward to doing a ton of hikes around Oregon this Summer and get in some more snowboarding days this winter. In his spare time, Ian enjoys traveling, listening to music, going to concerts, playing guitar, all kinds of sports, and spending time and meditating out in nature. Ask him about his favorite hikes in Colorado if you plan on visiting!
COLLABORATORS
The Children’s Forest of Central Oregon provides a network of outdoor places and programs dedicated to moving all children along a continuum of learning, exploration, and healthy living through engagement with nature.
They seek to:
- Develop opportunities for all children and youth to safely and accessibly engage in free play, exploration and recreation activities that connect them to nature
- Provide all children and youth first hand connections with nature by providing meaningful, inspirational, and interdisciplinary education programs including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), social studies, creative writing, and art
- Improve health outcomes in youth by providing opportunities that lead to increased physical activity outdoors
- Develop programs that foster leadership skills in youth, promote a sense of connection and stewardship for public lands, and provide potential environmental and natural resource career paths.