Contact Spencer
Office Phone: 802.649.1431 x210 (Leave messages for Spencer on general line)
Spencer Hardy has been researching native bees with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies for over a decade. Growing up in the shadow of VCE in Norwich, he got hooked on birds and nature by many of the current staff.
After graduating from high school, Spencer worked as a technician on the Vermont Bumblebee Atlas—his first introduction to the world of insects. During undergraduate studies, he worked on projects ranging from bumblebees in the Sierra Nevada, CA to freshwater fish in Lewis Creek, VT. In 2016, Spencer graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in Biology, and after a few years alternating between mist-netting and farming, Spencer was hired as the project coordinator for the Vermont Wild Bee Atlas, launched in 2019.
He now grows native plants and exotic fruit as a co-owner of The Farm Upstream in Jericho, Vermont, where he lives with his wife and son.
Publications
Spencer P. Hardy, Michael Veit, Joan Milam, John S. Ascher, Nathaniel Sharp, Michael T. Hallworth, Mark Ferguson, Leif Richardson, Charlie Nicholson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Jason Gibbs, Kent P. McFarland “An Annotated Checklist of the Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Vermont with Conservation Status and Natural History Notes,” Northeastern Naturalist, 32(mo27), 1-73, (19 November 2025)
deMaynadier, P., M.D. Schlesinger, S.P. Hardy, K.P. McFarland, L. Saucier, E.L. White, T.A. Zarrillo, and B.E. Young. 2023. Insect Pollinators: The time is now for identifying species of greatest conservation need. bioRxiv 2023.10.20.563282, https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.20.563282
Faccio, S.D., L. Morse, S. Hagenbuch, J.M. Hill, S.P. Hardy, A.W. D’Amato, B. Fisher. 2023. Sugarbush management impacts on forest structure and bird communities in Vermont.. Figshare. Preprint. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24168042.v1
Richardson, L.L., K.P. McFarland, S. Zahendra, and S. Hardy. 2018. Bumble bee (Bombus) distribution and diversity in Vermont, USA: a century of change. Journal of Insect Conservation. doi.org/10.1007/s10841-018-0113-5. (PDF)
McFarland K.P., J.D. Lloyd, and S.P. Hardy. 2017. Density and Habitat Relationships of the Endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Insects 8:57. doi:10.3390/insects8020057
