Hans joined ENLC as botanist in early May 2023. Hans grew up in southern Wisconsin and became interested in the mechanisms that drive the natural world through frequent hunting, fishing, and camping on trips to northern Wisconsin.  Wildlife ecology was a big interest while he was in high school. Due to this interest, Hans received a bachelor’s at University of Wisconsin-Madison in Biological Aspects of Conservation with a focus on botany.

In 2002, Hans traveled to Panama, where he was introduced to lowland tropical rainforest ecology. He was so fond of the region that he revisited Panama in 2005 and 2006 to assist with tree climbing and ethnobotany courses.

In 2007, Hans joined ENLC as a seasonal technician for the Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) program and remained a part of the team through 2009.

Following his first stent with ENLC, Hans pursued a master’s degree in Botany-Floristics at the University of Wyoming, at the Rocky Mountain Herbarium. He collected over 7,500 plant specimens in Custer National Forest and surrounding BLM land in southeastern Montana and northwestern South Dakota.

In 2013, Hans moved to Oregon and began working with an ecological consulting company. Projects included rare and noxious weed surveys both east and west of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington, Marbled Murrelet surveys along the central Oregon coast, and forestry Lidar accuracy assessments in southern Oregon. For the past six years, Hans worked in the electric utility industry. He is an International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist utility specialist.

Hans is excited to continue his botanical work in the field and in ENLC’s Gregory Gust herbarium.