Jane Bryden & Chris Krueger, Belchertown

Jane Bryden is a Kestrel Board member and her husband, Chris Krueger, is a Kestrel Membership Development Committee member. They live in Belchertown.

From Jane: In 2010, Chris and I were amazingly lucky to move into the old farmhouse that is adjacent to the Scarborough Brook Conservation area. We began clearing some old overgrown trails and mowing the trail through the fields, because we loved walking our dogs there. Soon Ann Kearns, friend and former KLT board member, suggested that I become involved with Kestrel  (which had helped to save our house from demolition under the wise recommendation of Peggy Hepler). Within the year, I had joined the board, and thus began a steep and fascinating learning curve for me.

I had no experience with land trusts or conservation. I guess it runs in my blood, however, because my father was a founder of the Roxbury Land Trust in Connecticut, and my Aunt Harriet Gratwick was on the first board of Kestrel with her friend Janet Dakin when Kestrel was formed 50 years ago. In addition, my sister-in-law Lucy Quimby is the founding president of the Bangor Land Trust in Maine. I have been grateful to build on my experiences of growing up on Vinalhaven, ME in the summers, which nurtured my love of land and sea.

From Chris: I, too, had no experience with land trusts or conservation. But I knew the beauty of nature and the importance of it in all our lives from many childhood summer camping and fishing trips in the old station wagon to the Rockies, the Sierra, and the Georgian Bay in Canada. They were a great antidote to growing up in Youngstown, Ohio.

How blessed we are to be able to walk on all the Kestrel trails. I think our favorite thing to do is walk in the woods with our dogs, and Kestrel has made it all the more alluring by providing so many beautiful areas for us to explore. Thank you, Kestrel!

Photo: Scarborough Brook conservation area in September 2020. Photo by Marian Miller.