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You’ve driven passed it, you may have even walked through part of it, but do you actually know that much about the Albany Pine Bush?
For my “real-life job,” I work in the Albany Pine Bush. I drive through it every day, get the emails about the prescribed burns but it wasn’t until I actually took a real walk through it that I realized what an amazing resource we have right here in the Capital Region.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Albany Pine Bush is one of the largest inland pine barrens in the entire world. It was formed thousands of years ago after the drainage of Glacial Lake Albany. Legally, the Albany Pine Bush isn’t allowed to hold paper for land but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still growing. It also means that they’re still endangered and need our help to continue.
Don’t know much about the Pine Bush? That’s fine, but you need to start at the Discovery Center and learn about this amazing nature around us. You may think to yourself “Why is something like the Albany Pine Bush important?” Having a large space like the Pine Bush helps give species around this area a place to grow and helps protect rare species like the Wild Blue Lupine which is the only thing the Karner Blue Butterfly eats. It’s also a great place to enjoy through the various trails and paths that we want to continue having for generations to come.
There are other ways you can experience the Albany Pine Bush that don’t necessarily involve walking through it. The Discovery Center, on top of offering great information for all ages, offers a great number of programs to get hands-on experience with this space.
Families, children, adults like me, we all can find something inside the Albany Pine Bush and the Discovery Center to entertain ourselves and I bet you’ll find something you didn’t know about your hometown before! Coming up soon you can register for events like: Turtle Time, a Karner Blue Butterfly Walk, a Kids’ Wildflower Walk, Dragonfly and Damselfly Walk, Evening Nature Journaling, and so many more! Make sure you register!
This summer, the Albany Pine Bush has also added the Fact Finders Lab. Blake Hastie-Etchison, Discovery Center Manager said “In this special exhibit, visitors are challenged to take a closer look at some commonly held beliefs about nature and the Pine Bush and discover what truth lies within.” The Fact Finders Lab is currently available for limited public viewing. For specific times the exhibit is open call 518-456-0655.
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