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.