In Memoriam: Drew Stokes

The death of Drew Stokes this year was a grievous loss to the museum, California biology, and regional conservation. A renowned expert on bats, Drew worked with the Museum since 2007.

The son of an air-force officer, Drew was born on a base in Oxnard and from 1972 to 1984 lived mainly on a military base in England. It was there he discovered a love of nature, collecting insects and lizards, being bitten by a snake, and seeing his first bat. Growing up on military bases accustomed him to their culture, preadapting him for much of his later work in southern California. After his family returned to San Diego, Drew studied at Grossmont College, then at San Diego State University, graduating cum laude in biology in 1997.

But Drew knew the route to a career studying bats required practical experience not taught in schools. One day in 1996, he walked into a California State Parks office and asked to see biologist Karen Miner. He told Karen that he knew she worked with bats and asked if she would take him into the field and become his mentor. Though Drew was a complete unknown to her, she and Pat Brown-Berry were just starting a bat inventory for the U.S. Forest Service and needed volunteers. Drew came to the first training, signed on to the project, and threw himself into learning everything he could about bats and field techniques. After the first year, his enthusiasm, dedication, and capabilities led to the Forest Service hiring him to continue the project. Drew networked with other bat biologists at conferences and joined San Diego Bat Conservation, assisting homeowners with their “problem” bats and educating people about their value. He had a special ability to speak succinctly to news reporters.

As the forest project ended, the USGS hired Drew for surveys of herpetofauna and rodents as well as of bats. He soon achieved his goal of becoming an outstanding bat biologist. With the USGS, he pioneered the methods of pitfall trapping now standard in herpetology. With the advent of acoustic monitoring of bats, he became an expert in interpreting their recorded calls. Though Drew loved working with reptiles and amphibians, and was a first-rate field herpetologist, his move from the USGS to the museum allowed him to concentrate on his primary passion.

His work at the Museum included surveys of bridges and dams, sampling for viromes and white-nose syndrome, and focused surveys for rare species. His favorite field work was in multidisciplinary surveys in which he worked alongside his colleagues in a broader study like the San Jacinto Centennial Resurvey. Drew’s work toward practical bat conservation extended from the deployment of bat houses to the development of long-term management plans. To the end of his life cut short by cancer, his scientific curiosity never flagged.

Posted by Phil Unitt, Curator of Birds and Mammals.