Rüschegg

Geschichte

Rüschegg is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is also a Swiss Reformed Church parish.HistoryRüschegg is first mentioned around 1417-28 as Ruesseg. Until 1860 Rüschegg was part of Guggisberg. The village church was built in 1813. In 1860, when it became an independent municipality, it also became its own parish. Until the early-20th century it was known as the poorest municipality in the Canton of Bern. With Federal and Cantonal support and rising tourism the local economy improved. Today there are several hotels, hiking trails and ski slopes in the municipality as well as a ropes course in the hamlet of Längeneybad. However, in 2000 about two-thirds of the working population commuted to jobs in Bern and surrounding cities.GeographyRüschegg has an area of. As of 2012, a total of 23.83km2 or 41.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.51km2 or 49.8% is forested. The rest of the municipality is 1.73km2 or 3.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.84km2 or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and 2.5km2 or 4.4% is unproductive land.During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.3%. A total of 45.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.2% is used for growing crops and 11.5% is pasturage and 27.6% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 3.2% is unproductive vegetation and 1.1% is too rocky for vegetation.