Pollinating Bats: Agave Restoration Initiative

Kristen Lear, Ph.D. – Agave Restoration Program Director

Dr. Lear has over 15 years of global leadership in community-based bat conservation, interdisciplinary research, collaborative partnerships, and public engagement. She is the Director of BCI’s Agave Restoration Initiative, leading bi-national efforts to restore habitat for threatened pollinating bats and strengthen sustainable rural livelihoods across the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. She oversees strategic planning for the initiative, fundraising, and partnerships with over 100 multi-sectoral partners, while pioneering novel conservation tools such as eDNA to guide species recovery.

Dr. Lear is Co-Founder of the Nivalis Conservation Network and co-led revision of the Mexican long-nosed bat Species Status Assessment and Recovery Plan. She also serves on the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Steering Committee and the Human Dimensions of Bat Conservation Working Group (IUCN SSC Bat Specialist Group). 

An award-winning science communicator, Dr. Lear is passionate about public outreach and has given hundreds of public talks around the world and led numerous bat walks and bat house building workshops. She serves as an expert for media and has appeared on National Geographic’s stage, CBS’s Mission Unstoppable TV show, and numerous podcasts and radio programs. She is a National Geographic Explorer, AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador promoting women and girls in STEM, and a Lifetime Girl Scout. 

Dr. Lear earned her B.A. in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University and completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Australia studying the critically endangered Southern bent-wing bat. She earned her Ph.D. in Integrative Conservation from the University of Georgia, where her research combined natural and social sciences to aid in conservation of the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat in northeast Mexico.

More information about Dr. Lear’s work can be found here.

Email: [email protected]

Rachel Burke – Agave Restoration Coordinator

Rachel joined BCI as the Agave Restoration Coordinator in 2023. As part of the Endangered Species Intervention team, Rachel works with the Agave Restoration Program on applied conservation for nectar feeding bats in the southwestern United States. She collaborates with native plant growers, land managers, land owners, and other stakeholders to promote a resilient landscape for nectar feeding bats.

For the past decade, Rachel has been working in wildlife management, ecological monitoring, and habitat restoration across the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts. In 2018, she completed a dual masters program in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, and Applied Geography from New Mexico State University. Her thesis work focused on using geospatial modeling to inform applied management and habitat restoration for nectar-feeding bats. Her graduate work brought her to some of the most beautiful parts of the desert sky islands, which quickly became her favorite ecosystem to work in.

Rachel has worked in a variety of positions in the public and private sector, ranging from leading an ecological monitoring crew, analyzing national botany datasets, and working as a federal wildlife biologist for both the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. Outside of work, Rachel can typically be found in her basement pottery studio, working in her garden with her dogs, or training for an ultra on the trails outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Regional Director, Mexico & Latin America

Born and raised in Mexico, Ana earned her Ph. D. from University of Miami studying how habitat fragmentation impacts movement of tropical forest birds, until she discovered bats! Ana completed her postdoctoral research and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) working on bat ecology and conservation. For the last 10 years, she has been dedicated to monitoring the effects that habitat transformation has on bats and their habitats, and how to better prevent, manage and restore bat populations. Ana is an active member of the Mexican Program for the Conservation of Bats (PCMM) where she participates as advisor for conservation, monitoring, and educational programs. She is a Fulbright Scholar and National Geographic Explorer.

Ana joins BCI as the in-country advisor for Endangered Species Interventions in Mexico, aiming to facilitate and expand BCI´s activities in Mexico and Latin America, while promoting collaboration with local partners, and building capacity with local agencies and communities to monitor, manage and conserve bats.

Brianna Mann joined BCI as a part-time technician for the Subterranean and Restoration teams in March 2022 before transitioning into a full-time role as a Restoration Specialist in November 2022. Prior to this, Brianna worked in natural history collections, as a springs biologist in the Southwest, and monitored wildlife (including acoustic monitoring of bats) throughout the western United States.

In her current role as Restoration Specialist, Brianna hopes to put her life-long passion for wildlife ecology to good use by protecting habitats for bats and other wildlife, restoring and stabilizing vital natural resources, and monitoring the impacts of habitat changes on wildlife populations. She believes that connection and collaboration are the gateways to successful conservation of the world’s biodiversity.

Brianna lives in Flagstaff Arizona, and in her spare time enjoys all things outdoors, reading, writing, dancing, and a good local brew.