The word that springs to mind for the University at Albany’s greasy plan to level 25 acres of classic pine bush on campus in order to build its own version of suburban sprawl isn’t printable. So I’ll settle for a distant second choice: pandering. “We’re told garden apartments are what today’s students want,” said a spokesman for the university. And parking for their cars, too. A marketing survey says do education this way. Give them what they want or they’ll…
The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally by John Wolcott The Thruway Authority has just completed a hikers’ underpass under the new bridge that carries Route 155 over the Thruway. This was done in response to a proposal presented to the Thruway Authority by Save the Pine Bush and the Sierra Club-Hudson Mohawk Group in May 1999. This hikers’ underpass reconnects two unpaved surviving portions of the colonial Kings Road, the road opened for wagons…
They Have Their Niche Memo From The PB Commission They Have Their Niche Memo From The PB Commission By Daniel Van Riper What is the Albany Pine Bush Commission, where did it come from, and what does it do for the Pine Bush? Back in 1989 Save the Pine Bush filed suit to stop the 25 acre expansion of the Albany Pine Bush Dump, which is euphemistically referred to by officials as "the landfill." Because the State of New York…
Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously Guilderland, Albany consider destroying Full Protection Areas Guilderland, Feeney and Ford: Town of Guilderland Planning Board officials heard a preliminary proposal to destroy 103 acres of Pine Bush by allowing 30 plush, expensive houses to be built on land owned by Feeney and Ford. This land is adjacent to and just west of the State Preserve. The Albany Pine Bush…
Friday, 17 May 2013 By Melissa Hale-Spencer GUILDERLAND — A mountain of garbage formed the backdrop Tuesday as clusters of eager students learned how to gauge life returning to a once-barren sandy plain. The land is being reclaimed by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Farnsworth Middle School students, taught by Alan Fiero, who for 15 years has developed hands-on science projects in the Pine Bush, are in the vanguard “It’s a pilot project. We hope to do it with other…
Fire? What Fire? – Pine Bush Better Than Ever For Immediate Release: July 12, 1999 Save the Pine Bush Sues Albany Common Council Over Illegal Office Complex ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush filed suit today in New York State Supreme Court over the City of Albany Common Council’s approval of the Drumlin Fields office complex in the Pine Bush. “The Albany Common Council completely ignored the state-authorized Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission’s recommendation for full protection of this…
Land Crunch in the Pine Bush Land Crunch in the Pine Bush by John Wolcott We’d Rather Have Been Wrong Save the Pine Bush knew that unresolved difference between development desires and acquisition wish lists were heading toward a major clash in the Pine Bush. Even so the present situation of 85 "hot spots" has taken us by surprise in its extent and immediacy. It proves us more right than we thought we were, whereas we’d rather have been wrong…
One of the most beautiful aspects of life in a village is living close with nature, especially in many third world countries, where many villages do not have access to most of today’s technology such as cars, tractors, air conditioners, electricity and TV. That is the kind of village and time I grew up in. I shivered in the winter and sweat in the summer. I was scared of the darkness and closed my ears from the thunderstorms. I walked…
The Pine Bush Wins! – State Buys Site of Proposed Office Complex The Pine Bush Wins! State Buys Site of Proposed Office Complex by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: As a result of a Save the Pine Bush lawsuit, Governor Pataki and Mayor Jennings announced the addition of 46 acres of land to the Pine Bush Preserve. The Rapp Road site of the proposed office complex, Drumlin Fields, is now forever wild. Lewis Oliver filed the lawsuit for Save the Pine…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: Neil Gifford, Conservation Director of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission shared hopeful news with Save the Pine Bush at the October veggie/vegan lasagna dinner. The Karner Blue butterfly feeds on wild blue lupine. There are two broods a year, the first brood comes out in late May/early June, and the second in July. The butterflies come out, lay eggs. Those eggs become butterflies which come out in July, at which point, the cycle starts all…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: A virtual book signing for Son of Mountains by Yassin Aref was the topic for the May Save the Pine Bush vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner. Yassin, along with Mohammed Hossain, were subject of an FBI sting operation and were sent to prison for 15 years each. During the five months Yassin was awaiting sentencing, he wrote Son of Mountains in the Rensselaer County Jail. Carl Strock, Daily Gazette columnist said “Incredibly, Yassin Aref has written a book,…
DEVI ATHIAPPAN Associated Press WILTON — Whiling away months of unforgiving cold beneath a deep quilt of snow might not seem like the best way to start life. But the snow is cozy for the eggs of endangered Karner blue butterflies. The small, white dots overwinter on stems or the ground, usually exposed to dry, cold air, but insulated this winter by heavy snowfall. The eggs are escaping “freezer burn” under a white blanket, said Kathy O’Brien, a wildlife biologist…
A recent date to speak about Nabokov’s blues in Albany, New York — the state’s capital — afforded me a chance to visit what is left of old “Karner”, New York. Karner is the little hamlet that, in common parlance, has attached its name to Nabokov’s famous endangered species Lycaeides melissa samuelis, the “Karner Blue”. Karner got the nod for samuelis’s common name because Nabokov chose specimens of samuelis from Karner for his type series (the specimens he used…
More Land is Purchased More Land is Purchased From the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission’s Pine Bush Update, November 1999—State Buys 122 Acres of Pine Bush in Guilderland. In October, Governor Pataki announced the State acquisition of 122 acres of Pine Barrens and ravines for inclusion in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. The property was purchased from the families of John and Mildred Ford and the Feeney family partnership for just under $1.1 million, using funds from the State Environmental…
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…
Vote Primary Day – Tuesday, September 15, Noon to 9:00 pm ALBANY: Six candidates for Albany City-wide races came to speak at the August Save the Pine Bush dinner. Four city-wide seats are up this year (as well as the entire Common Council). Running for Mayor – Corey Ellis; for treasurer – Kathy Sheehan; for Common Council President – Carolyn McLaughlin and Lenny Ricchiuti; and for auditor – Leif Engstrom and Darius Shahinfar. Jerry Jennings, running for his fifth…
Summarized by Grace Nichols ALBANY: At the May Save the Pine Bush lasgana dinner at the First Presbyterian Church, NY State Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone gave a talk summarizing our recent discoveries of pesticide use in the Pine Bush by both the City of Albany at the Rapp Road Landfill and Pine Bush Police and Fire Station and placing it in the context of his 39 years of work with Rezsin Adams, Lew Oliver and other leaders of the Save…
The Army Corps of Engineers extended the comment period on their review of the wetlands that will be destroyed if the proposed landfill in the Pine Bush is constructed. Bert wrote an excellent letter outlining many of the problems of expanding the landfill. The deadline for comments was March 5 and the letter was sent to Heidi Firstencel, US Army Corps of Engineers, NY District: CENAN-OP-R, Upstate Regulatory Field Office, 1 Buffington Street, Blg 10, 3rd Fl, Watervliet, New York…
ALBANY: Melissa Stone, PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program at the University of Albany, spoke at the September Save the Pine Bush vegetarian dinner at the First Presbyterian church about lyme disease. Lyme disease is an old disease, first identified in the early 1900’s. In 1975, it was recognized in the United States. Lyme disease, caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, needs a tick vector. The black-legged tic hosts the bacteria. The tick hangs on to the…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: Are you sick and tired of reading about the proposed hotel in the Pine Bush? Are you tired of sprawl in the Pine Bush? Are you disgusted that the largest hotel corporation in the US wants to pave occupied Karner Blue habitat for parking lots and a building? Time to do something! Contact Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Gerald Jennings and propose a win-win solution. How can the site be saved? The State of New York…
Cases of Lyme disease might be reduced by switching the focus from people and vaccinating the animals that carry it, a new study suggests. Writing in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers described an experiment in which they caught white-footed mice in a wooded area of roughly 3,000 acres in Connecticut, vaccinated them against Lyme disease, tagged them and set them free. The lead author was Dr. Jean Tsao of Michigan State University. The mice are among…
by John Wolcott Click on map to see larger image Now: you can see it at a glance. The top topo map displayed here, is of the Karner Dune Field, the Type Locality of the Karner Blue Butterfy, in the Pine Bush, as it was way before Rte. 155 appeared. A unified field, fully connected west to east. This dune field is a grouping of sand dunes within the much larger Schenectady-Albany “Dune Belt.” All. of the cultural information has,…
by John Wolcott Guilderland just enacted six-month moratorium on development in the western part of town. The Town of Colonie is considering a moratorium in certain segments of town. As both Guilderland and Colonie contain Pine Bush, one would have expected the Pine Bush to have been included in the moratoriums as both town supervisors are on the Pine Bush Commission, but the Pine Bush was left out. Colonie, at least, has some conscientious citizens and an environmentally responsible board…
by Lynne Jackson SCHENECTADY: Volunteers for Save the Pine Bush (SPB) were invited by the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) to participate in a charette regarding eliminating the at-grade crossings at Morris and Cordell Roads in Colonie. The stated goal of the charette was to come up with ideas to allow safe passage of high-speed trains through the Pine Bush by eliminating the dangerous at-grade crossings. Volunteers for SPB were told over and over that DOT had no…
ALBANY, NY: The August Save the Pine Bush vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner was the setting for Mike Venuti, the new director of the Pine Bush Discovery Center, to describe what the Pine Bush Discovery Center will be and the progress on the Discovery Center. Mr. Venuti began by briefly describing his background. He has worked with New York State Parks for 27 years, including working on a park in the Long Island pine barrens, and most recently working at the Saratoga…
by Lynne Jackson OK, Crossgates has been in the news a lot recently. Actually, they made it into the international news. Save the Pine Bush has received emails from out raged people as far away as Sydney Australia, and California. People are mad. To recap: On Monday evening, March 3, Stephen Downs and his son Roger, were stopped by a security guard at Crossgates Maul. They were wearing T-shirts which they had just purchased at the mall. Stephen’s T-shirt said…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: Dr. George Robinson shared his adventures studying and speculations about the mysterious Patroon Creek, Albany’s only remaining above-ground creek at the November SPB lasagna dinner at the First Presbyterian Church. The Patroon Creek begins in Lake Rensselaer, which is in the Pine Bush. The creek is fed by water filtered through huge amounts of sand of the Pine Bush which means that the water is of good quality. This is an unusual situation, because, unlike…
After mis-quoting William Shakespeare in our last newsletter, I felt it was important to find another quote to illustrate the relationship between the Pine Bush and Iraq. This month, we are having Joe Quandt speak about Iraq. We usually limit our speaker to issues relating to the Pine Bush or other related environmental issues, and do not get involved in larger political issues. However, with the looming war in Iraq, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the…
All that sand was left by a glacial lake. The Pine Bush ecosystem sitting on that sand, however, may have been created by Native Americans practicing fire management techniques. At least, that’s what some people believe. One of those people is Dr. Harvey Alexander, professor at the College of St. Rose, who spoke at the Dec. 10 SPB dinner at the Unitarian Church in Albany. Doing some fast talking, he laid out the story of the formation of the…
For Immediate Release: December 10, 2002 For Further Information: Contact Lynne Jackson at 434-1954 or 366-7324 ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush volunteers demonstrated today over the destruction of the Pine Bush for the building of Avila House. Avila House is proposed to be built in the rare Pine Bush ecosystem. The Pine Bush is home to the Karner Blue butterfly, a federally-listed endangered species. The Federal Government has stated that the decline in the population of Karner Blues is…
ALBANY: The City of Albany tried to sneak in legislation at the last minute that would radically change the protection of the Pine Bush Preserve. The Albany Common Council, in vote of 11-4, asked the NYS Legislature to pass a home rule bill to alienate 12.5 acres of protected Pine Bush Preserve in order for the land to be used to expand the City’s current landfill. Assemblyman John J. McEneny sponsored the bill in the NYS Assembly. Despite the secrecy…
Captain Planet Comes to the Pine Bush Captain Planet Comes to the Pine Bush by Dr. Alan Fiero "Captain Planet He’s our hero. Takes pollution down to zero." For those of you that have not heard this theme song, Captain Planet is a cartoon character seen on TV that fights to save our environment. Where better than the Pine Bush would Captain Planet’s super powers be needed? All of us trying to save the Pine Bush know that "super…
“Study Shows Low Lyme Disease Risk” reads the headline in the Albany Times Union June 13, 2001. Comforting words. “Lyme disease is very difficult to catch, even from a deer tick in a Lyme-infested area, and it can easily be stopped in its tracks with two capsules of an antibiotic, a new study shows. Two other studies..conclude that prolonged and intensive use of antibiotics…does nothing for people with symptoms attributed to chronic Lyme disease. The findings are in keeping with…
ALBANY, NY: Paul Tick and Tina Lieberman spoke at the January 15, 2020 SPB dinner about plans by Lafarge to burn tire at its cement factory in Ravena, twelve miles south of Albany. Paul began his comments with saying that when he moved to the capital region 32 years ago, he immediately looked for activists to hook up with and found Save the Pine Bush. Paul quickly reviewed important Lafarge events of the past 26 months. In late 2017, Coeymans…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: The July SPB veggie lasagna dinner at the First Presbyterian Church was a forum for a bevy of politicians. Everyone came out to support Pine Bush preservation, a welcome change from previous elections. Candidates from Albany, most facing primaries in September attended as well as Ken Runion, candidate for Guilderland Town Supervisor who faces his challengers in the general election. First to speak was Marggie Skinner, Democrat, running for Common Council in the 9th ward…
SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush filed suit in July against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the City of Albany over the permit approval for the City of Albany P-4 landfill expansion on Rapp Road. Save the Pine Bush is suing on the grounds that the permit approval was illegal because the…
Willow Street Again Letters The following excellent letter appeared March 21,1999 in the Hearst-owned Times Union under the title, “Improve Downtown and Preserve Pine Bush”: To the Editor: Why is the Albany Common Council approving Pine Bush development (Drumlin Fields office building) when there are plenty of vacant parcels in downtown and on Henry Johnson Boulevard that are screaming for development? I thought the goal of Mayor Jennings was to rebuild and improve downtown and Arbor Hill, making…
Action Alert! Call your Common Council Member- Ask to Vote No on Touhey Action Alert! Call your Common Council Member – Ask to Vote No on Touhey Charles Touhey is back with his proposal to construct an office complex in the Pine Bush. So far, Save the Pine Bush has sucessfully stopped Mr. Touhey from building his offices since 1988. We hope to make it permanent! The Common Council will vote soon on this Pine Bush proposal. Your calls…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: David Ellis of Rensselaer Residents Against Toxic Dumping and Lou Sebesta of Stop Trucks Assaulting Rensselaer (STAR) spoke at the May 15th SPB dinner about “Done with Dunn Landfill: Negative Impacts of Dunn C/D Dump Operations” in Rensselaer, and their efforts to close it. Later in the evening, George Keleshian of Zeroenergy Buildings, Inc., finished the presentation he did not have enough time to complete at the April SPB dinner. Before they spoke, Lynne Jackson…
by Grace Nichols ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush supports a move by Albany County Legislator Doug Bullock and Save the Pine Bush’s Grace Nichols to introduce to the Legislature a Pollinator-Friendly County Resolution. It would be the first time that the County stood with a class of organisms undergoing rapid extinctions globally. We, at Save the Pine Bush, hope the County of Albany passes the resolution as our small part to address a biological crisis, and also as an…
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 work and are accomplished experts in environmental education. Before they began, Grace Nichols spoke briefly saying insect populations are rapidly declining for multiple reasons. These…
by Steve Rider On its website it states that the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission “assure(s) the protection, restoration and management of the natural and cultural resources of the Albany Pine Bush.” However, in reality preservation of cultural resources is given little priority compared to the ecological goals. Original, unspoiled remnants of four historic roads can be found within the Preserve, some as part of the trail system, and nothing has been done to protect them nor to educate the…
by Grace Nichols WASHINGTON, DC: Darting in and out of the crowd, you could catch the energy and creativity of the groups. Huge puppets from El Puente; Reclaiming Appalachian (huge red flag and lots of marchers), right next to Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Environmental Justice and tons of local groups (don’t dump on our county etc.) from all over the South. They were shouting “NO Justice, NO peace.” and I felt right at home. My people are the ones…
by Grace Nichols, July 26, 2009 The survival of the Federally Protected Karner Blue Butterfly in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve is in doubt here in Albany – its numbers have been critically low for at least ten years. This butterfly was first named by Vladimir Nabokov, the famous writer, and became one of the best known insect species on the East Coast. It is a beautiful brilliant blue color when it spreads its wings, while the undersides of…
By Tim Truscott The following is an interesting, though brief, article by Alan Woods of the Toronto Star on the findings of a study done by a Quebec provincial agency regarding fish in the Chaudiere River at Lac-Megantic following the disastrous oil train fire of July 6, 2013. The impression given to the public by politicians and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is that if the Bakken crude oil floating on the surface of bodies of…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Retired University at Albany economics professor and McKownville Improvement Association president Don Reeb was the speaker at the November 18 SPB dinner. Don spoke about SUNY Poly — formerly College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Don is 82 years old. He said the neighborhood contain 900 houses and the neighborhood association has a $300 annual budget. He said only forty percent of registered voters in county legislature districts 3 and 4 voted in November. He makes…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY: Gary Feinland, environmental program specialist for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), was the speaker at the May 20 SPB dinner. He spoke about Anaerobic Digestion and Composting of Organics. His appearance was arranged by Tim Truscott who wrote an excellent article about this topic in the May/June Save the Pine Bush Newsletter. Prior to Tim’s introduction of Gary, I said that Albany County Controller Michael Connors delivered his annual report on the county’s finances at the…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY: Albany Pine Bush Management Commission (APBMC or the Commission) Executive Director Chris Hawver was the October 15 SPB dinner speaker. Lynne Jackson and I introduced him saying that Save the Pine Bush is very pleased that the Commission exists and is protecting the Pine Bush. Lynne said the work of SPB has become institutionalized with the APBMC. Chris said he has worked for the Commission since 1993, first as fire management coordinator, later as conservation director, and, beginning…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Theresa Portelli, Green Party candidate for NYS Comptroller, spoke at the August 13 SPB dinner about Why is the Green Party challenging the Governor? Theresa said she was born in Brooklyn and her parents came from Ireland. She worked as a counselor at a teen jail in NYC for ten years, was elected to the Albany city school board for a term, retired three years ago, was a PEF member, and now works as a Hospice volunteer. …
By Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Former Albany First Ward Common Council member Dominick Calsolaro spoke at the June 18 SPB dinner about Environmental Issues in Albany. He began thanking SPB President Rezsin Adams for her many years of friendship. During the US-Vietnam War, he said, Rezsin often came into his family’s restaurant. Dominick spoke about the many issues he worked on during his 12 years on the Albany Common Council, some of which he continues working on. He said the big issue in…