John Hammonds - Reservoir Fisheries Biologist
John graduated from Cocke County High School in Newport, Tennessee in 1990. He attended Mars Hill College from 1990 to 1994 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University in 1997 with a Master of Science in Biology. His thesis involved comparing two fisheries assessment techniques on a watershed level located in what is now known as the Martha Sundquist State Forest.
John began his professional career in 1998 with the National Park Service at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and worked on the restoration of native fishes. He was hired by the TWRA in 2004 as a Wildlife Manager II and is responsible for the collection and analysis of fisheries data in the upper East Tennessee reservoirs. These lakes include Douglas, Ft. Patrick Henry, Boone, South Holston, Watauga, and Davy Crocket.
John, his wife Shelley, and their son Max live in Newport. Shelley is a Wildlife Officer with the TWRA in Cocke County.
