A founding member of Save the Pine Bush in 1978, Wolcott was a month shy of his 91st birthday when he passed away Thursday ALBANY — John Wolcott, a passionate long-time defender of preserving the Pine Bush ecosystem, self-proclaimed Albany historian, and thorn in the side of developers and government officials for decades, died this … John Wolcott, passionate advocate for Albany Pine Bush, dies
COLONIE – John Wolcott, a rebel with a cause, a purveyor of justice and the truth, died August 17, 2023, a month before his 91st birthday. He is now walking the Glory Road with Jesus. John was a genius who had a photographic memory. He was a beautiful calligrapher and made his own Christmas cards … John Wolcott Obituary
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by Tom Ellis RENSSELAER, NY: Efforts to close the Waste Connections Dunn construction and demolition debris landfill in Rensselaer continue despite little news coverage of the ongoing public health crisis. The dump is located on a hilltop at the end of Partition Street, borders the Rensselaer public school campus, a cemetery, and in between Rensselaer … Efforts to Close the Dunn Dump Continue: All Trucks Enroute to the Dump Violate Traffic Laws
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Amanda Dillon, field ecologist and entomologist for the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission (Commission), was the speaker at the November 16 Save the Pine Bush virtual meeting. She discussed “Science in the Albany PIne Bush Preserve.” Amanda Dillon earned both a BS in Natural History and Interpretation in 2007 and … Amanda Dillon: Science in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve
ALBANY, NY: Mark Plaat was one of the founders of Save the Pine Bush in February, 1978. He led many hikes, cleanups, and organized a cross-country ski race. Here is his obituary. On May 13th, Mark Plaat, loving husband and father of two boys passed away at the age of 72. Mark was born on … Save the Pine Bush Lost Good Friends – Mark Plaat, One of the Founders of Save the Pine Bush
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: Recently, a number of people have asked me why developers can build in the Pine Bush — isn’t the Pine Bush protected? This question has got me thinking about how confusing all of the terms used in this fight to save the Pine Bush can be. And, it does not … What is Full Protection, Partial Protection and who is the Pine Bush?
by John Wolcott Join us on a visit to a forgotten locale at the crossing of Old Karner Road with the AMTRAK tracks. This was bypassed when New Karner Road was built and then after a while the crossing was closed. This place was the location of the railroad stop half way between Albany and … Center, NY/Karner, NY Old Development Never Finished in the Pine Bush
On Wednesday, April 20, 2022, Tina Lieberman and Bill Reinhardt of the Capital District Community Energy delivered the following presentation, via Zoom to the Save the Pine Bush Virtual Meeting. Links and accessible text are available below. Down To Earth: Practical Steps You Can Take to Reduce Carbon Emissions & Save Our Climate Tina Lieberman, … Save the Pine Bush Presentation – Down to Earth, 4/20/22
Social Media Today and Then I’m a kid and I know that social media can take societal issues we care about and make them go viral in real time. But in 1977, way before the internet or even personal computers, when my grandfather Rocco Ferran was a resident in Albany New York and active to … Wanted Dead or Alive: Karner Blues — My Pine Bush History Report
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Lynne Jackson spoke about current developments in the Pine Bush and Steve Downs about The War on Terror – Twenty Years Later, at the February 23 Save the Pine Bush virtual meeting. After thanking SPB members for their financial contributions to assist one of SPB’s dinner chefs, Adam Baldwin, with … Save the Pine Bush Update and the War on Terror
Thursday May 16, 2024 at 6:45 PM to 9 PM Meet at: Pine Bush Discovery Center parking lot, east side of Route 155, opposite Old State Road.For GPS – 195 New Karner Road, Albany NY 12205 Leader: Andy Arthur • For More Information: 518-281-9873 or andy@andyarthur.org Join us as we go for an evening walk … May Evening Hike – Thursday, May 16, 2024 6:45 PM to 9 PM
As much as we love solar, the Eden Renewable Solar Project in Colonie is NOT okay. Dear Save the Pine Bush Friends, Please come to the public hearing regarding the proposed Solar Farm in the Pine Bush. I have included links to the documents and maps. Thank you so much, Lynne Jackson For Save the … Curry Road Solar Colonie (Eden Renewables) Proposed on 75-acres of Full Protection Lands
2020s 🦋 2010s 🦋 2000s 🦋 1990s Search Newsletter Archives: 2009 🦋 2008 🦋 2007 🦋 2006 🦋 2005 🦋 2004 🦋 2003 🦋 2002 🦋 2001 🦋 2000 2009 October/November 2009 – Download printable PDF version Bringing Back Sustainable Karner Blue Populations, October/November, 2009 September Biogas Talk, October/November, 2009 Buckmoth Monitoring, October/November, 2009 Neither … SPB Newsletters Listed by Date – 2000s
2020s 🦋 2010s 🦋 2000s 🦋 1990s Search Newsletter Archives: 2019 🦋 2018 🦋 2017 🦋 2016 🦋 2015 🦋 2014 🦋 2013 🦋 2012 🦋 2011 🦋 2010 2019 Newsletter 🦋 December/January 2019-20 Newsletter Download printable PDF version Listen to the Podcasts Merton Simpson — Fighting Environmental Racial Injustice, December/January 2019 Air Pollution in … SPB Newsletters Listed by Date – 2010s
2020s 🦋 2010s 🦋 2000s 🦋 1990s Search Newsletter Archives: 1999 🦋 1998 🦋 1997 🦋 1996 🦋 1995 🦋 1994 1999 December 1999, January 2000 Garbage in the Pine Bush – City Proposes Landfill Expansion SPB Files Most Unpopular Suit Yet – Sues the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission The Thruway Authority Comes Across … SPB Newsletters Listed by Date – 1990s
by Lynne Jackson COLONIE, NY: A solar farm is proposed to be built on 75 acres of Pine Bush ecosystem in the Town of Colonie. The proposal is called the Lishakill 1 Solar Farm at 2772 Curry Rd and Lishakill 2 Solar Farm at 2792 Curry Rd. Save the Pine Bush supports sustainable energy production, … A Solar Farm in the Pine Bush? Balancing conflicting environmental needs
Do you ever walk the Karner Barrens Yellow Trail from the Discovery Center, past the large vernal wetlands and the recently restored area that was a former trailer park? You might soon be joined by the rumble and toxic smoke of school buses, should South Colonie School District build their bus garage next to one … Proposed School Bus Garage at 100 Broderick
by Lynne Jackson GUILDERLAND, NY: Save the Pine Bush is watching several proposals in the Pine Bush in Guilderland. These include the proposed Pyramid projects, one of which is a Costco with 18 gas pumps. With climate change a critical issue, the Town of Guilderland should not permit the construction of any fossil fuel infrastructure. … Proposed Developments to Watch
ALBANY: On Sunday, May 23, a fire ripped through John Wolcott (one of SPB’s Founders) and Linda Becker’s Sheridan Avenue home. The fire began in the house next door and leapt to the roof of John and Linda’s house. Fortunately, John and Linda were away on vacation and are safe. Unfortunately, the house was a … Fire Burns House of Save the Pine Bush Founder John Wolcott
By Dominick Calsolaro, June/July 2021 Save the Pine Bush Newsletter ALBANY: In April, Waste Management of New York, Inc, (WM) informed residents of Albany’s South End that it was again asking the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to approve a solid waste permit modification to allow WM to accept municipal solid waste (MSW) at its … Waste Management Pulls Out of Seeking to Dump in Albany’s South End Community – Dominick Calsolaro
By Bill McKibben, June/July 2021 Save the Pine Bush Newsletter Our hope for a livable world rests on a series of crucial sentences. May 18, 2021:The crucial turning points of the climate era can be found in a series of sentences, some of them pretty opaque, but all of them critical. The latest came on Tuesday … The International Energy Agency Issues a Landmark Statement About Fossil Fuels, Bill McKibben
by Karina Franke October 19, 2007 Dear Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission and Save the Pine Bush, My name is Karina Franke, and I’m a fourth grader at Furnace Woods School. Ms. Howell is my enrichment teacher, and Ms. Podesta is my classroom teacher. I’m writing to you for the Karner Kids from Cortlandt Manor … Help make the Karner Blue the New York State Butterfly!
CONCORD, N.H. – Two biologists crawled through a field thick with blueberry, black chokeberry, and scrub oak, searching for butterfly eggs the size of pinheads. Suddenly, one of them, Steve Fuller, thrust a hand into the air. “Found one!” he shouted. As his colleague, Heidi Holman, ran to his side, Fuller opened his hand to … Returning to flight Efforts of New England biologists help usher in rebirth of the endangered Karner blue butterfly
by Grace Nichols Earth Day Season began with a Teach-In by the Black Caucus of PEF (Public Employees Federation) at the Albany Public Library (on April 16th) about the environmental injustice done to the Sheridan Hollow community in Albany, NY. Sheridan Hollow is named for its location down a ravine that’s across the street from … Earth Day Actions in Albany NY
by Christine Kielb Tom Ellis and Christine Kielb of Stop Trucks Assaulting Rensselaer (STAR), a group of Rensselaer residents and their allies, are continuing their work fighting the tractor trailer truck traffic passing through city neighborhoods to and from the Dunn Construction and Demolition (C&D) landfill. This landfill operation, larger than the Colonie and Albany … Truck Traffic in Rensselaer: Update
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Scott Kellogg and Justina Thompson spoke at the September 19th SPB dinner. Scott is the executive director of the Radix Center at 153 Grand Street in the South End of Albany. Justina is a 19-year-old student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute majoring in sustainability studies. Both are highly enthusiastic about their … The Islands of Radix Center
Reprinted from the Altamont Enterprisel Thursday, May 17, 2018 Before there were cars and trucks, before there were carriages and wagons, before there were wheels, people have always made pathways. The routes they traveled linked hunting grounds with dwelling places, became a means of trade and commerce, linked one community to another or allowed one … Ecology and history can walk side-by-side on Pine Bush roads
CONCORD, N.H. – Two biologists crawled through a field thick with blueberry, black chokeberry, and scrub oak, searching for butterfly eggs the size of pinheads. Suddenly, one of them, Steve Fuller, thrust a hand into the air. “Found one!” he shouted. As his colleague, Heidi Holman, ran to his side, Fuller opened his hand to … Returning to flight
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: The First Presbyterian Church was the setting for the July Save the Pine Bush vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner. Dina Cappiello, environmental reporter for the Hearst-owned Times Union regaled the diners with passionate tales of what it is like to be one of the 50 full-time environmental reporters in the country. Educated in … The News comes to the Pine Bush – Dina Cappiello Speaks
by Grace Nichols Have you noticed in driving through rural New York, that your windshield – which once would have been covered with the remnants of countless insect collisions are now fairly clean? This observation has been made globally and linked to severe declines in insect populations. Insects are a critical part of the ecosystem … Pollinator-Friendly County Resolution to be introduced in the face of alarming flying insect declines
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Dan Van Riper spoke about the proposed Lincoln Park sewage treatment facility at the May 16 SPB dinner. His wife, Lynne Jackson, introduced him saying Dan has studied the sewage issue for more than ten years and written about it extensively on his blog Dan began saying, “This is a … Proposed Lincoln Park Sewage Treatment Plant
It has come to my attention that Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis may have arrived in our beloved Pine Bush. These diseases are borne by ticks. Until the early 1990s, there were no ticks in the Pine Bush. Now, the Pine Bush seems overrun by these disease carrying insects. What are these diseases? Below is information from … Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis May Have Come to the Pine Bush
In May, Albany passed a measure to protect pollinators, written by Grace Nichols and championed by Doug Bullock, Lynne Lekakis, Bill Reinhardt and others. This September, Activist Iris Bloom and Ulster County Legislator Kathleen Nolan won a similar measure in Ulster County. Insect conservation has become a cause supported by bipartisan forces to conserve our … Albany’s Pollinator-Friendly Resolution is SpreadingAlbany’s Pollinator-Friendly Resolution is Spreading
Dear Mr. Wemple and members of the Guilderland Conservation Advisory Council, Thank you very much for allowing Karen White and I to attend the site visit for 10 New Karner Road on April 17, 2021. Save the Pine Bush re-iterates that we oppose any construction on the site. Though the proposed building site has been clear-cut, … Dumping on 10 New Karner Road
Dear Mr. Wemple and the Guilderland Conservation Advisory Council, Thank you for letting me send you some maps and my comments. Save the Pine Bush opposes the proposed sub-division of 10 New Karner Road. Please see map below for location of items mentioned. 10 New Karner Road is proposed to be subdivided. 10 New Karner Road … Save the Pine Bush Comments on 10 New Karner Road
Devil Eats Developer – Massive Coverup Alleged Devil Eats Developer Massive Coverup Alleged By Daniel Van Riper The endangered Albany Pine Bush Devil, making it’s first reported appearance since last April Fools, has attacked and eaten developer Charlie Touhey, thus dramatically ending his stubborn and irrational plans to destroy Pine Bush acreage at 300 Washington … 9
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission celebrated its 25th anniversary by throwing a wonderful party at the Discovery Center on Route 155 on October 29. A few people from Save the Pine Bush and I attended. Rezsin Adams often tells the story of how in 1988, then Assemblyman Richard Conners invited … The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Turns 25
ALBANY — Tucked in among suburban sprawl at the border of Albany, Colonie and Guilderland, 3,000 acres of pine barrens are becoming a kind of avian rest stop for an increasing number of birds that need a very special kind of landscape — one that’s disappearing elsewhere in New York. The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is … Proclamation Calling on Congress to Fund Urgently Needed Services in Albany County and Throughout the United States by Reducing Military Spending
Letters to Save the Pine Bush Letters to Save the Pine Bush Here is a sampling of letters written to Save the Pine Bush and some responses written by Lynne Jackson: From: rngeorge@gw.dec.state.ny.us (Richard Georgeson) To: pinebush@aol.com To Lynne Jackson: Lynne – In your history of Save the Pine Bush section of your … Letters to Save the Pine Bush
Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor To the editor: With all due respect, the article in the recent Save the Pine Bush newsletter titled "Bethlehem Pickled," was inaccurate in several important respects. As the reporter who has been writing on this issue from the get-go (for The Spotlight), I have to disagree with … Letters to the Editor
GE Brings Dead Things To Life – Breathe Those PCBs GE Brings Dead Things To Life Breathe Those PCBs By Daniel Van Riper World renowned PCB researcher Dr. Brian Bush spoke to a capacity crowd at the Feb. 18, 1998 Save the Pine Bush dinner at 1st Presbyterian Church in Albany. Dr. Bush, who has … GE Brings Dead Things To Life – Breathe Those PCBs
by Sandy Sheridan In a continuing effort to preserve Karner Blue Butterfly habitat, Save the Pine Bush petitioned the Appellate Court to overrule the Albany Planning Board’s approval of another senior housing project’s construction within the Pine Bush. The plan to build Avila Independent Senior Housing Campus was given the go-ahead by the Albany Planning … SPB Files Appeal – – An Appeal Against the Avila Approval
Albany Area Coalition for Light Rail Christian Gunther: Albany Area Coalition for Light Rail by Rezsin Adams "Albany Area" means Capital District (Albany, Schenectady, Troy.) The Capital District Transportation Com-mittee has prepared 5-year and 20-year plans–the 5-year plan is "New Visions" but is hardly visionary: light rail maybe in 20 years! Light rail is … Albany Area Coalition for Light Rail
From Andy Arthur, our hike leader: Save the Pine Bush Hike Canceled That said, you are more then welcomed — and encouraged to take your own hikes at the Albany Pine Bush. Unlike other public lands in the area, the area is snow and ice free. Additionally, based on my recent walks in the preserve, … Walk in the Pine Bush!
by John Wolcott ALBANY, NY: Here is a brief review of the Summary of the State Climate Action Council’s first public meeting on January 25, 2010 at the N.Y. State Museum was held pursuant to Gov. Paterson’s Executive Order 24. This was the first State Climate Action Council Public Outreach Meeting pursuant to Gov. Paterson's … NYS Climate Action Council
Interview with Helen Caldicott Interview with Helen Caldicott The upcoming issue of the Journal of Family Life, a Quarterly for Empowering Families a nationally distributed magazine produced by the Free School community in Albany, will feature an in depth interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility in which she discusses … Interview with Helen Caldicott
It’s a tale that could end up on a milk carton. Tender youngsters are snatched from their cradles and carried off to underground lairs, never to be seen again. “The one thing we know is that the Karner Blue Butterfly eggs are disappearing,” said Dr. Peter Spoor, speaking at the SPB lasagna dinner on May … Save the Pine Bush
Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush The Pine Bush is a beautiful place to walk. The soft, rolling sand dunes are a walker’s dream. You can take a bus to the Pine Bush from downtown Albany. The Pine Bush is the perfect spot for outdoor activities. Save … Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush
Save the Pine Bush Raises Money Save the Pine Bush Raises Money If you asked me what my least favorite activity is, I would say "fund-raising". Its no fun. But, we have discovered that our work to preserve the Pine Bush costs money. And because a lot of people believe as we do, we have … Save the Pine Bush Raises Money