When Lars Kulleseid died on February 17, the Hudson Highlands Land Trust lost a visionary founder; his board colleagues a dear and noble friend. And the Hudson Highlands lost a uniquely energetic advocate and imaginative defender.
By 1989, when the Land Trust was born, Lars and his family had lived in Garrison for a quarter century. As an inexhaustible hiker who roamed the region’s trails most weekends, he had already internalized the threat that development posed to his community’s scenic beauty and fragile ecosystems.
The man was matched to the moment. For the next quarter century, Lars was the boots-on-the-ground “man you’d see” if you owned a threatened property, controlled a potential trail link, a vulnerable stream or a majestic view. He stitched together easements at Clove Creek, thwarted a condominium development at “Glenclyffe,” and introduced sustainable forestry practices to reduce property taxes on sizable woodlands.
As gregarious as he was determined, Lars persuaded targets to become partners; he invited them to join him on tramps—usually off-trail and uphill—across their property and that of their neighbors. Several steps out front, he explained his vision to his partner in short, over-the-shoulder bursts, eventually arriving at a key, predetermined objective, where he’d deliver a summing-up: “See!” It was not a question. And his companions generally saw.
When Lars retired from the Land Trust board a few years ago, his colleagues adopted a resolution that summed up Lars and his contribution to the work of the organization and the preservation of the Highlands this way: “Lars Kulleseid has been described as a ‘force of Nature.’ He has become ‘a force for Nature.’” And that is how we will remember him.
We send our sympathy and condolences to Lars’ wife, Marit, his children, Sara, Erik and Nils, and all his family.
