Today, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced the appointment of Brent Erb as manager of Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center, an increasingly popular Bureau of States Parks’ facility on 665 acres outside Reading, Berks County.
“Brent has displayed a wealth of enthusiasm and commitment to our natural resources as he progressed through bureau ranks,” Dunn said. “He brings to the education center’s top post a breadth of experience and service that can only benefit the more than 82,000 visitors that facility draws each year.”
Erb will oversee staff and daily environmental education activities at the Nolde mansion dating back to the early 1900s, as well as the nearby C. H. McConnell Environmental Education Hall, housing year-round programming.
Amid the center’s deciduous woodlands and coniferous plantations is a network of trails leading to the center’s teaching stations, wildflower gardens, streams, ponds, and diverse habitats accessible to both students and casual visitors.
“I’m honored for the opportunity to oversee the operation of not only one of Pennsylvania’s 121 state parks, but one with the distinction of being the commonwealth’s first environmental education center,” said Erb. “Along with the dedicated staff of Nolde Forest, we’re proud to serve as an outdoor classroom for thousands of visitors each year who come to explore the forest, volunteer to help care for our park and learn about nature and how to be better stewards of our land, air and water.”
Most recently serving as assistant park manager of the French Creek State Park Complex, Berks County, Erb began his bureau career in 2011 as an environmental interpretation technician at Colonel Denning State Park, Perry County.
He later worked as a natural resource specialist at the bureau’s Harrisburg headquarters, and then as park manager of the Susquehannock State Park Complex, Lancaster County.
A veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, Erb served from 1996 to 2001 as a public affairs specialist.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in natural resources recreation and tourism from Colorado State University, and attained a master’s degree in American Studies from The Pennsylvania State University.
