The Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District has a new district manager.
Liz Marthaler has left for an opportunity with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, returning to her work as an interpretive naturalist at Brown County State Park.
Stepping into the BCSWCD district manager position is Erin Kirchhofer. Kirchhofer is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, has held several positions at IU, and has worked in Brown County for the prosecutor’s office and as community services director for Turning Point Domestic Violence Services. She has served on the Brown County Community Corrections Board of Directors and is a graduate of Leadership Brown County.
“I end every email with the quote by Mahatma Gandhi: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world,’" Kirchhofer said, "not because I am trying to tell the reader what to do, but because it is the last thing I will see before I hit send."
Kirchhofer said she sees it as a reminder to herself to "always try to do better, to be better."
"Why is that important in this context? I have lived in Brown County for the past 18 years now, but my love for the planet we live on began a lot earlier than that as a camper and counselor at Camp Palawopec," she said. "We learned to care for the Earth as a living being, and to want to protect it, as it protects and nourishes us. Soil and water conservation are paramount to this practice as they are the very elements necessity to sustain life.
"I hope that as the new district manager, I can honor those these ideas, learn from those around me, and continue my commitment to my community to ‘be the change’ that not just I want to see, but what the residents of Brown County want to see in the world.”
