by John Wolcott The next piece in the puzzle of “Where is Trader’s Hill?” is an amazing very old parchment map in the Albany City Engineer’s collection. It is the only map known to show Margriets Bergh, and was drawn in January 1773 by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer from a survey done by himself in 1772. This survey and map were ordered by the City in an effort to correct a series of mistakes in a former survey of it’s bounds….
Crossgates Mall officials have dropped trespassing charges filed Monday against war protester Steve Downs, who wore a pro-peace T-shirt as he walked through the building that afternoon. The decision to negate the arrest came Wednesday evening, after more than 100 anti-war protesters descended upon the mall wearing shirts similar to Downs’. Tim Kelley, who works for the Pyramid Management Group that manages Crossgates and other malls throughout New York, said local managers had called the police. The decision to drop…
Furry Pine Bush Residents Furry Pine Bush Residents The butterfly is not the only resident of the Pine Bush. Little furry animals also reside in the Pine Bush. I had no idea how many different types of moles, voles, mice and other tiny creatures there are-or how important they are to the ecosystem of a forest. Rezsin and I saw an article about voles in the Pine Bush in the paper, and just had to find out about these small…
by Grace Nichols ALBANY: Using the Freedom of Information Act, both Save the Pine Bush and Brian Nearing of the Times Union requested data that has been collected about the number of Karner Blue populations. We were astounded at what we found. The numbers of butterflies counted have plummeted in recent years, dipping below 1000 butterflies. Figures of what population level is sustainable vary; some say 3000 butterflies are sustainable (even though Karner Blues were extirpated from New Hampshire…
16-09 Sept-Oct Newsletter Sept/Oct 16 No. 132 ⢠33 Central Ave., Albany, NY 12210 ⢠email pinebush@mac.com ⢠phone 518-462-0891 ⢠web http://www.savethepinebush.org ⢠Circ. 600 Vegetarian/Vegan Dinner Wednesday, September 21, 2016, 6:00 p.m. Climate Crisis and Practical Solutions Conor Bambrick Air & Energy Director, Environmental Advocates of NY will speak about NY Renews and practical solutions for transition to clean energy Mark Schaeffer who works with 350.org will speak about Overview of climate crisis and need for a political…
by Mark Dunlea The United Nations last month announced that we have 12 years left for an emergency worldwide mobilization – unprecedented in human history – to halt the use of fossil fuels and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Failure to take such dramatic action increases the likelihood that human civilization as we presently know it will cease to exist. Floods, sea level rise, wildfires, heat waves and droughts will make parts of the planet uninhabitable. Climate refugees will likely be…
by Wendy Dwyer ALBANY, NY: Tina Lieberman spoke at the November SPB dinner. For Tina, this was her first attempt at getting a law passed and she said it took a lot of people. Tina asked people who had helped in some way (writing letters, attending hearings, signing petitions, etc) to stand up and almost everyone in the room had helped! Tina said Albany County Executive, Dan McCoy, felt the letters to the editor really influenced the legislators. There were…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: When we learned that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional administrator Judith Enck would be speaking in Albany the same evening Save the Pine Bush as the scheduled August dinner, SPB decided to cancel the dinner and hear Ms. Enck speak. On August 17, Ms. Enck, formerly of Albany, participated in a forum with the new NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) commissioner and residents of the Ezra Prentice Homes (EPH) on South Pearl…
by Sally Cummings I have a few tires at home. How can I recycle them? You may be able to return surplus tires to either a tire retailer or a local recycling facility that accepts tires. Be sure to confirm that the facility accepts tires for recycling and check for quantity and size limitations. Some local municipalities will also periodically conduct “tire amnesty days” when any local citizen can bring a limited number of tires to a drop-off site free…
Albany, NY: Recently, a friend out in Rensselaer County grabbed my arm and said “don’t you dare release your rehabilitated (orphan) rabbits out here—The Fisher will get them!” She went on to describe an animal so mean and vicious that no other mammal would be safe around them. And so, though I haven’t ever met a fisher, I got an idea of the reputation that precedes them. It turns out that fishers are a member of the weasel family. They…
by Hugh Johnson Mark Dunlea, the Green Party Candidate running for the New York State Comptroller, spoke at October Save the Pine Bush dinner. He commenced by stating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s assertion that we have only 12 years to do something about Climate Change (really Accelerated Global Warming, AGW). A “miracle” solution is needed to cut back Greenhouse Emission by 97% which the IPCC feels is needed to begin to reverse AGW. This would include reducing the use of Natural gas and Fracking,…