Read the sentence.

People hardly ever think of the benefits provided by wetlands.

Which word does hardly modify?

a. think

b. ever

c. People

d. benefits

The correct answer is b.

Hardly, as an adverb means "just", hardly, in this context is acting as a limiting modifier of the word ever. Hardly ever means very occasionally. We may use words like it to emphasize how infrequently an action takes place. You should note also that there could be other ways to give quite the same meaning, like when you use rarely or seldom, but, hardly ever has also a negative connotation.