Lebanon County resident Amy Brown heads PACD as executive director

Amy Brown of Myerstown moved into the executive director role for the nonprofit Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts at the start of September after serving in the interim since February.

Brown, initially from Maryland, grew up on her family’s farm. She has an extensive background in agriculture and conservation work, working as an agricultural specialist at the Luzerne Conservation District for 10 years before moving to the PACD to serve as the director of operations for five years and program manager for another two and a half years.

Pennsylvania has 66 conservation districts, and each has programs and provides assistance for issues unique to each county, according to the PACD website. These can include abandoned mines, agricultural land preservation, the Chesapeake Bay Program, environmental education, erosion and sedimentation pollution control, floodplain management, forest management, stormwater management, waterway protection, wildlife management, and more.

PACD works with these districts and with legislators to secure funding and support local preservation efforts.

“Agriculture and conservation are both my passions, so I will do whatever it takes to continue to support all 66 districts with everything that I’ve learned and lived,” Brown said.

In her executive director role, she will oversee the organization’s 21 employees, manage statewide programs, advocate for the conservation districts, and focus on partnerships that enhance district initiatives.

Brown’s experience in agriculture and at the district level gives her some unique insights. She said she had experience implementing conservation practices on her own farm in Luzerne County and was able to educate local farmers based on her real-life experiences. She also said she was told she’s the first executive director who has actually worked in a district before stepping into the role.

“Being in that district and seeing how day-to-day operations work within that district, I think it makes it easier for me to relate to what they’re doing than anybody else has before,” Brown said.

She said the main difference between the district and statewide jobs is where the work is happening. When Brown was an agricultural specialist, she had her boots on the ground to work directly with farmers.

“I was in the field working with farmers and working on their conservation plans, on their manure management plan, and then I also worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service,” she said. “Now I support the districts — where I was the district before and out doing the work.”

Even with this year’s state budget held up past its summer due date, she said the nonprofit is working on its next year’s funding requests. She said they’re looking for extra funding that can go toward increasing the salaries of district-level workers.