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Wardropper is interested in land and water policy and how landownership, community participation, and institutions impact conservation outcomes. Her work on the WSC project investigates how regional governance systems leverage policy tools to enhance water quality in Dane County’s Yahara Watershed. WSC projects include spatial analysis of nutrient reduction policies in the watershed; an analysis comparing local ontologies of change to theories of change used in ecosystem scenarios projects; and a study on participation in and adaptability of water quality trading programs in the United States.

Wardropper has a B.A. in the College of Social Studies from Wesleyan University. Before coming to Madison, she worked on public land acquisitions with the Department of Justice, assisted in soil and wetland conservation with NRCS Massachusetts, and implemented environmental programs on a USAID agriculture development project in West Africa.