Dana grew up in Ketchum, Idaho, and learned to flyfish, ride, and shoot. Fascinated by the plants and animals of the mountains, she became an outdoor biologist, working as a conservationist in the Idaho high desert with special emphasis on small mammals and rare plants, and also teaching college students on field study expeditions to some of the wild places of the world. She has also been a scientific illustrator, a web designer, a magazine editor, a flyfishing guide, a golf-cart mechanic, a dog trainer, and a few other oddities.

To Dana, everything is a story: why her grandpa shot a Hash Knife man in 1909 and what happens on the day of the spiders, how fireflies behave in the rainforest, how to bottle-raise baby pack rats, and what happened after the collies ate the cement. The author of many scientific publications, the Scavenger Series, the Little Demon Creek Series, and her award-winning memoir Wildflower Girl, she lives in Idaho with her husband and Shelties.