Melanie Rudolf

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.