Over time, much of Tanzania's mountain land has been used for agriculture, splitting what were once lush, continuous forests into small isolated fragments. Each summer Bill Stanley travels to the Eastern Arc mountains in Tanzania to inventory the mice, shrews and bats found in the mountain forests, many of which are found nowhere else. He works in close collaboration with biologists from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and with local villagers to identify the small mammals that live in the remaining forest fragments. This information helps to pinpoint priority sites for conservation and to develop effective strategies to conserve the Eastern Arc mountains' dwindling forests.

Bill Stanley was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and studied at Humboldt State University.