Melanie Rudolf
Terrestrial Ecologist Manager
Little Rock, Arkansas
![Melanie Rudolf headshot.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/Melanie-Rudolf-at-Huttig-Pine-Flatwoods-Natural-Area.jpg?crop=0%2C384%2C2320%2C2320&wid=640&hei=640&scl=3.625)
Melanie Rudolf Melanie is a Terrestrial Ecologist Manager for The Nature Conservancy. © Brendan Kosnik/TNC
Areas of Expertise
Ecology, botany, ecological restoration, prescribed fire
Biography
Some of Melanie’s earliest childhood memories are walking in the woods of southwestern Ohio with her grandmother Sue as she taught her about native wildflowers such as bloodroot, trout lily and toadshade. Later, Melanie would become an expert with their Latin names Sanguinaria canadensis, Erythronium americanum and Trillium sessile. While Melanie didn’t know she wanted to work in nature as an adult, she did want to learn everything there was to know about nature and the outdoors, with a continued passion for plants.
After college, Melanie became a wetland ecologist with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As an ecologist, most of her work involved plant identification, providing an understanding of the response of the ecosystems and plant species to restoration efforts. While plants are Melanie’s expertise, her primary interest has always been how everything connects, how difference pieces of the ecosystem puzzle fit together, and how we can support healthy and resilient ecosystems.
During her EPA projects, Melanie was introduced to the science-driven mission of The Nature Conservancy and the incredible work of the Ohio Chapter to protect and restore wetlands. When an ecologist position opened with TNC three years ago, she immediately applied and now continues to use her skills and knowledge to further conservation.
Melanie currently leads the Monitoring, Measures and Adaptive Management Program across Arkansas. She finds the work to be incredibly fulfilling as it allows her to use science and data to drive conservation throughout the state. This program is also deeply rooted within the TNC Fire Management Program, which helps TNC successfully bring good fire (prescribed burns) back to the landscape; good fire means that crews apply fire in a strategic way that increases biodiversity and restores fire-adapted ecosystems. Melanie loves that she gets to tell this story with science and data.