Category: Memorials

Matthew R. Hanson, a wildlife biologist working for Schoener Environmental, was killed in an airplane crash on March 3, 2020 while conducting bald eagle surveys related to a wind-power project in Lincoln, Illinois. Also killed in the crash were wildlife biologist Kevin G. Chapman and pilot Mitchell Janssen.

Hanson graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, with a BS in Biology in 2004 and received a MS from Florida Atlantic University after completing a thesis project relating to bald eagles in the Everglades.

Sources: Legacy.com; Chicago (IL) Sun Times, March 4, 2020.

Brandon White, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife technician, died in a helicopter crash on August 8, 2020 on Black Gap Wildlife Management Area in Brewster County, Texas while conducting aerial surveys for desert bighorn sheep.

Sources: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department news release, August 9, 2020.

Dewey Stockbridge, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist, died in a helicopter crash on August 8, 2020 on the Black Gap Widlife Management Area in Brewster County, Texas while conducting an aerial survey for desert bighorn sheep.

Sources: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department news release, August 9, 2020.

Dr. Robert “Bob” Dittmar, state wildlife veterinarian for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, died August 8, 2020 in a helicopter crash on the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area in Brewster County, Texas, while conducting an aerial survey for desert bighorn sheep.

Sources: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department news release August 9, 2020.

Raptor biologist John David Bittner died January 9, 2020 while rappelling down a cliff in San Diego County, California to change the batteries on a camera installed on the cliff to monitor a Golden Eagle nest.

He received a B.S. in Zoology and Wildlife Management from The Ohio State University (1968) where he also conducted graduate studies in Avian Reproduction and Natural Resources (1975-1977). He worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Ohio Dept of Natural Resources, and taught at three different Universities. He co-founded the Wildlife Research Institute in 1993.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune, January 10, 2020.  Ramona Sentinel, January 16, 2020.   Wildlife Research Institute.

Mark Alan Jackson, a Kansas Parks and Wildlife Department temporary employee, died June 25, 2019 while spraying weeds on the Milford Wildlife Area when the ATV he was riding overturned, rolled down, and embankment and pinned him underneath.

Source: Kansas Parks and Wildlife Department Press Release; Junction City (KS) Post.

Angela Nicole Hawkins, 45, passed away during a prescribed fire at Fort Jackson in South Carolina on May 22, 2019 during a prescribed fire. Details relating to the cause of her death are not yet available as of this time.

Born in Guntersville, Alabama on March 4, 1974 she earned a Bachelors degree at Auburn University and a Masters Degree from Virginia Tech University.

Since 2007 she worked as a wildlife biologist at Fort Jackson and focused primarily on red cockaded woodpeckers. Prior to that she worked for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

A scholarship fund in her name has been established by the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. Donations can be made at http://www.scwf.org/chadwick-fund

Sources: https://powersfuneralhome.net/tribute/details/2760/Angela-Hawkins/obituary.html

On January 27, 2018 Benjamin M. Poirier died in a helicopter accident near Pomeroy, Washington. Poirier was working for Hells Canyon Helicopters under contract with the Washington State Division of Wildlife to capture and radiocollar mule deer. Pilot Blake Malo, 33, of Clarkston, Washington, and another crew member, Garrett Bradshaw, 30, of Eagle Point, Oregon, were injured and were taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

He was born March 14, 1998 in Thornton, Colorado.

Sources: Associated Press story, January 30, 2018. Loveland (CO) Reporter-Herald, February 6, 2018.

Dr. Laura McClellan, age 60, was electrocuted when a metal pole she was using to set up a bat net touched an electric line at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Florida on August 21, 2016. She was an adjunct professor at Indian River State College in Florida, however the project she was working on at the time of her death was not associated with her work at the college.

Dr. McClellan earned her BS and MS degrees at Michigan State University prior to earning a doctorate at Kansas State University in 1988. After a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian she was a Visiting Professor at Coastal Carolina University and then an Assistant Professor at Central Missouri State University from 1991-1997. She then moved to Kean University and Ocean County College before starting at Indian River State College in 2013. Her work focused on shrews, mice, bats, and other mammals.

Source: Dr. Laura McClellan Linked-In Profile, accessed August 23, 2016; www.wptv.com;