Restoring Pine Bush Ecosystem Health through Management Lecture – May 2024 Neil Gifford , Conservation Director for the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, spoke at Save the Pine Bush’s May 2024 meeting about how managing native scrub oak trees can restore the health of the Pine Bush ecosystem. Neil discusses the Commission’s research on habitat restoration that includes such techniques as mechanical, chemical and prescribed fire treatments. Habitat management is helping advance the conservation of numerous rare species and a fire regime reminiscent of what we know of pre-colonial Indigenous fire stewardship in the USA.