AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry recently announced Chad Hammer as the new invasive plant biologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program.

Hammer earned a bachelor’s degree in ecology from SUNY Plattsburgh and a master’s degree in forestry with the Natural Resources Department at the University of New Hampshire. While at UNH, he researched the invasion patterns and impacts of terrestrial invasive plants and published research on increasing the biotic resistance of native plant communities in riparian forests to non-native plant invasions by planting native trees during restoration efforts after Hurricane Irene.

Before the Maine Natural Areas Program, Chad was a forester and wildland firefighter with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Reservation and studied forest ecology & management and climate science at the University of Montana.

In addition, Hammer worked with Lake Champlain Research Institute from 2013-17 as a research technician, assisting in collecting and identifying plankton communities and the long-term monitoring of water quality, food webs, and invasive zooplankton within Lake Champlain.

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