Over one year ago, a distinguished CPC member and conservation easement landowner, the Honorable Sylvia H. Rambo, passed away peacefully at the age of 88. Judge Rambo served with distinction for 45 years as a federal judge for Pennsylvania’s Middle District, having been nominated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Her tenure included presiding over cases arising from the Three Mile Island nuclear incident, as well as many other notable civil and criminal federal matters.
Beyond her remarkable legal and judicial legacy, Judge Rambo cared deeply about her local community and the importance of conserving land in perpetuity. In 2017, she contacted CPC to explore protecting her 54-acre forested property near Barnstable Road in Carlisle. Because her land adjoined another 50-acre property already conserved by CPC, the two easements together now protect a substantial stretch of woodland and open space bordering urban Carlisle—serving as a corridor for wildlife and supporting an interconnected network of equine trails.
Although both properties remain privately owned and have since passed to successor landowners, CPC continues to hold the conservation easements. These easements permanently prohibit subdivision and development while upholding critical conservation values.
Judge Rambo’s commitment to land conservation extended beyond her lifetime. She named CPC as a partial beneficiary of her estate, along with several other local charitable organizations to which she was deeply committed. We are profoundly grateful for this generous gift, which will strengthen CPC’s capacity to grow, protect, and steward the conservation lands entrusted to our care.
You can read more about Judge Rambo’s story here.