Hi,

I’m Melody!

I help Tennesseans understand and enjoy our environment.

Melody smiles casually leaning against a tulip poplar tree in a green, grassy field. She's wearing blue jeans, a cream Tennessee State Parks tshirt, and black wire-framed glasses and has brown wavy hair pinned back on one side.

My Background

I’m a lifelong Tennessean, two-time alumna of Tennessee Tech University (wings up!), and environmental scientist. I’ve always loved exploring nature, science, and art. One of my favorite things in life is learning and helping others learn, too.

During and after my college education, I worked in the water resource permitting programs at TDEC for several years. As an environmental scientist, inspector, and permit writer, I helped Tennesseans just like you navigate the septic (a.k.a. “SSDS”) and ARAP (a.k.a, streams and wetlands) permit processes.

TN Environmental

I left TDEC and started TN Environmental to provide educational and permitting resources to everyday Tennesseans. I believe we all should value, steward, and enjoy Tennessee’s natural resources, but it’s hard to value what you don’t understand.

I’m here to make environmental easy

So YOU can:

1

Know if you need an SSDS or ARAP permit

2

Know what to expect when navigating the permit process

3

Know what you need to do & how to do it, or at least know where to start

4

Understand WHY these resource management regulations are INVALUABLE to Tennessee

5

Understand how amazing and special our natural resources are in Tennessee, so you can enjoy them even more!

I want to help you love Tennessee’s environment as much as I do.

A close up of Melody laughing. She's standing under trees in a grassy field. She is wearing black wire-framed glasses, has her brown wavy hair pinned to one side, and a cream State Parks tshirt with artwork of a wood duck swimming in clear blue water with green conifer trees along the rock shorelines.

Fun fact: This epic shirt should actually show a wetland 🙂

Shows Melody sitting in the driver seat of a white work pickup. She's wearing a blue tshirt, a heavy hunter's camo coat, jeans, and steel toe cowboy boots. There's a lot of dirt in the floor boards, and she is hopping out of the truck.

Last day in the septic permit (SSDS) program at TDEC

Melody stands under a large arching rock formation with her husband and blue heeler dog. They are wearing hiking outfits and gear.

Me, my wonderful husband, and our blue heeler, Diesel

Melody is wearing waders and standing in a stream closing the lid on a water sample jar. A macroinvertebrate sampling net is staked in the flowing water, and in the background an isolation column made of large PVC pipe and a hand auger tool sit on a rock across the stream.

Microplastics sampling for undergraduate research

TN Environmental logo. A teal band encircles three layers of twin peaks which graduate from blue mountains on the horizon to a green rolling field in the foreground. A white stream flows down the middle of the landscape, meandering between the top peaks, cascading in a waterfall through the layers of ridges and finally forming a river flowing across the green field.

Let’s make environmental easy.

I’m a Tennessee-based environmental scientist who believes Tennesseans shouldn’t have to struggle to manage and enjoy our natural resources. I specialize in demystifying water resources permitting for everyday property owners.

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