California Survival School
California Survival School training locations across California, 23600 Big Basin Way, California, CA 95070
About
California Survival School offers wilderness survival training, outdoor adventure leadership, outdoor safety education, emergency preparedness, and survival media production. Participants can take part in wilderness first aid training, urban disaster training, emergency preparedness training, primitive survival training, exploration trips, and search and rescue team training. The program also offers specialized experiences such as a 4 Day Hunter-Gatherer Running Adventure, a 5 Day Desert Primitive Survival Adventure, and instruction in primitive living skills, traditional living skills, traditional tannage, and experimental archaeology.
California Survival School was founded in 2012. Its stated mission is to remain the world’s leading provider of wilderness survival training and adventure education. The leadership team includes Dan Baird (Head Instructor), Dave Holladay (Lead Instructor), Matt Graham (Lead Instructor), Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper (Specialist Instructor), Cat Bigney (Lead Instructor), and Reza Allah-Bakhshi (title not specified).
Dan Baird is a certified Medical Wilderness First Responder and a FEMA/DHS trained National C.E.R.T. Instructor, and he is a member/trainer of law enforcement search and rescue teams across California. Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper holds a master’s in Experimental Archaeology and a PhD focused on the microscopic analysis of prehistoric skin artifacts from the University of Exeter, is an honorary research fellow at the University of Exeter, and has completed an internship with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and collaborative research with the EU-funded Openarch project.
California Survival School is described as California’s leading authority for wilderness survival training, outdoor safety education, emergency preparedness, and survival media production, and as the world’s leading provider of wilderness survival training and outdoor adventure education programs. It is also described as the largest and most experienced survival school operating in California and the nation’s largest wilderness survival school, with Dan Baird serving as Head Instructor of the largest survival training school in the U.S. The school is described as a vital resource for technical traditional outdoor skills preservation and high-stakes survival training and as bridging the gap between ancient ancestral wisdom and modern emergency preparedness.
The program provides wilderness survival training to more students annually than any other survival training program worldwide. Every program emphasizes judgment, environmental awareness, and adaptive thinking, following the philosophy “Know More. Carry Less.” It offers core survival skills through a foundational, single-day wilderness survival training adventure, wilderness first aid certification conducted in outdoor field environments, and urban disaster training and emergency preparedness focused on real risks faced by California residents.
California Survival School trains specialized teams within the U.S. military and law enforcement and provides media production services and search and rescue team training. It has provided survival training and adventure expertise to Google Inc. and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department mountain rescue team and supports efforts of the Tarahumara Indians to preserve their cultural identity and traditions. Corporate and organizational clients include Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Instructors regularly lead trainings and expeditions in locations including the Amazon Jungle, Mount Everest, the Sahara Desert, and the rain forests of Southeast Asia. Instructors and programs have been featured with Good Morning America, Outside Magazine, National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, The New York Times, and other outlets. Instructors serve as risk-mitigation and survival consultants for major productions including The Revenant, Cast Away, and Man vs. Wild, and past projects include work as primitive skills experts behind the scenes and on camera for Man v. Wild, Survivorman, Dual Survival, World-wide Extreme Survival (Japan), Good Morning America, and Castaway with Tom Hanks.
Last updated June 14, 2026.
California Survival School was founded in 2012. Its stated mission is to remain the world’s leading provider of wilderness survival training and adventure education. The leadership team includes Dan Baird (Head Instructor), Dave Holladay (Lead Instructor), Matt Graham (Lead Instructor), Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper (Specialist Instructor), Cat Bigney (Lead Instructor), and Reza Allah-Bakhshi (title not specified).
Dan Baird is a certified Medical Wilderness First Responder and a FEMA/DHS trained National C.E.R.T. Instructor, and he is a member/trainer of law enforcement search and rescue teams across California. Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper holds a master’s in Experimental Archaeology and a PhD focused on the microscopic analysis of prehistoric skin artifacts from the University of Exeter, is an honorary research fellow at the University of Exeter, and has completed an internship with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and collaborative research with the EU-funded Openarch project.
California Survival School is described as California’s leading authority for wilderness survival training, outdoor safety education, emergency preparedness, and survival media production, and as the world’s leading provider of wilderness survival training and outdoor adventure education programs. It is also described as the largest and most experienced survival school operating in California and the nation’s largest wilderness survival school, with Dan Baird serving as Head Instructor of the largest survival training school in the U.S. The school is described as a vital resource for technical traditional outdoor skills preservation and high-stakes survival training and as bridging the gap between ancient ancestral wisdom and modern emergency preparedness.
The program provides wilderness survival training to more students annually than any other survival training program worldwide. Every program emphasizes judgment, environmental awareness, and adaptive thinking, following the philosophy “Know More. Carry Less.” It offers core survival skills through a foundational, single-day wilderness survival training adventure, wilderness first aid certification conducted in outdoor field environments, and urban disaster training and emergency preparedness focused on real risks faced by California residents.
California Survival School trains specialized teams within the U.S. military and law enforcement and provides media production services and search and rescue team training. It has provided survival training and adventure expertise to Google Inc. and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department mountain rescue team and supports efforts of the Tarahumara Indians to preserve their cultural identity and traditions. Corporate and organizational clients include Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Instructors regularly lead trainings and expeditions in locations including the Amazon Jungle, Mount Everest, the Sahara Desert, and the rain forests of Southeast Asia. Instructors and programs have been featured with Good Morning America, Outside Magazine, National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, The New York Times, and other outlets. Instructors serve as risk-mitigation and survival consultants for major productions including The Revenant, Cast Away, and Man vs. Wild, and past projects include work as primitive skills experts behind the scenes and on camera for Man v. Wild, Survivorman, Dual Survival, World-wide Extreme Survival (Japan), Good Morning America, and Castaway with Tom Hanks.
Last updated June 14, 2026.
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