How The Krusch Nature Preserve Was Created

Peter Krusch on his land in the 1990s

  • Peter Krusch owned and carefully stewarded this land for 60 years – its woods, meadows, streams, wetlands, ravines, and waterfalls. Peter and his wife Sally Laughlin conserved a portion of the land with the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) in 2003, envisioning making it the first nature preserve owned by the Town of Cambridge.
  • After Peter’s death is 2018, Sally worked with the Vermont Land Trust and the Cambridge Conservation Commission to fulfill that vision.
  • The Cambridge Conservation Commission, the Vermont Land Trust, and the Krusch Preserve Steering Committee worked together on this project for three years (2017-2020) to enable the land to be transferred to the Town.
  • With the help of the Vermont Land Trust, we raised the funds to acquire and conserve the land. Conservation Easements on the land placed by both the VLT and the VHCB.
  • Vermont Housing and Conservation Board granted $50,000 towards land acquisition, and the landowner donated the remaining $148,000 of the appraised value.
  • Funds were raised to establish an endowment fund at the VLT to ensure permanent monitoring and conservation.
  • Total acquisition and conservation funds raised were $93,800. Additional funds are in hand for establishment and development of the preserve (currently in the Town’s Krusch Preserve Designated Fund) and total $57,800 – enough to build the parking lot and provide match for the RTP grant.
  • Trail designed by a professional trail designer/builder. In 2019, we hired professional trail designer /builder Erin Amadon, Town 4 Trail Services, LLC to draw up plans for the trail. In June 2020, after consultation with our volunteer Commitees and the Town, she completed her 53-page Trail Assessment and Planning Project, including a Trail Work Log. Erin will run a training workshop in Sustainable Trail Building in in summer 2021 to prepare trail crew leaders to lead volunteer work crews.
  • Summer 2021- Bob Brunette made a hand carved wooden sign for the Preserve
  • Artist Karen Winslow created a painting of the Preserve’s iconic Pineblow Pines for the center.

Bob Brunette and Karen Winslow

  • December 2020 – The Town of Cambridge took ownership of the land
  • February 2021 -Town Report features the Krusch Preserve on the cover, as major event of the year. Minutes of the 2020 meeting list the three resolutions of support passed at the 2020 meeting.

Link to Town of Cambridge 2020 Town Report