Albany Pine Bush

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The Albany Pine Bush, referred to locally as the Pine Bush, is one of the largest of the 20 inland pine barrens in the world, and is centrally located in New York’s Capital District within Albany and Schenectady counties, between the cities of Albany and Schenectady. The Albany Pine Bush was formed thousands of years ago, following the drainage of Glacial Lake Albany.

The Albany Pine Bush is the sole remaining undeveloped portion of a pine barrens that once covered over 40 square miles (100 km2), and is “one of the best remaining examples of an inland pine barrens ecosystem in the world.” Today it includes all parcels of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve (a state nature preserve spanning 3,200 acres (1,300 ha)), the properties that connect these protected parcels, and some of the surrounding areas that abut the preserve. The 135-acre (55 ha) Woodlawn Preserve and surrounding areas in Schenectady County are the western sections of the Pine Bush and are separated from the Albany Pine Bush Preserve in Albany County.

The Pine Bush has been a historical, cultural, and environmental asset to the Capital District and Hudson Valley regions of New York. Pioneers moving west passed through the pine barrens, which later became the site of the first passenger railroad in the United States. The Pine Bush is also home to the Karner Blue butterfly, an endangered species first identified by Vladimir Nabokov in 1944 using a type specimen from the Pine Bush.

Why the Pine Bush is Special

Andy | April 30, 2021

Walking around the Albany Pine Bush Preserve with the crowds of people and children, the roar of the traffic, and dark gray skies I have to wonder what I’m fighting for with so much wild, open country not all that far away, often with public lands totaling thousands of not tens of thousands of acres of contiguous acres.

But public lands close to home are important. The Pine Bush is a unique ecosystem that is critically endangered. Walk around it, especially late at night once the crowds have left and you will understand why it is special. It’s not the traffic noise or the crowds but the coyote and the deer, the mystical trees swaying above, the fields of lupine and Karner Blue when visited the right time of the year.

Now it’s unlikely in our lifetimes that the Albany Pine Bush Preserve will become the wilderness it once was before the train, streetcar and later the automobile, it sure is nice to preserve and fight for what is remaining. It’s something that I can fight for close to home, something that shows citizens like myself can make a difference in my own community.

While I love the mountains and the small town, like so many of us I must live in the city to make money and survive for now. The Pine Bush is a battle in my own backyard, a fight worth fighting for all those who can’t escape to distant wilderness or need a wild space close to home that protects several important endangered species.