To the Editor:

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is deliberately destroying centuries of history. Despite its claims of balancing history, ecology, and recreation, when irreplaceable historic resources are destroyed and gone forever it hardly represents a balance, and the preserve should change the mission statement that appears on its website.

The last traces of several historic roads dating as far back as the 1660s lie within the preserve, and nothing is being done to protect them. In fact, the preserve is systematically closing off sections of these roads to return them to a natural state.

In jeopardy are the last existing unaltered remnants of the circa 1712 Palatine Road, the circa 1800 Schoharie Road, and the circa 1662 King’s Highway. No attempt has been made to make the public aware of these historic treasures that are part of the trail system.

Little by little, as the trail system is changed, segments of the historic roads are lost. The most egregious example is the recent blocking of a segment of the Schoharie Road. Where it was previously possible to hike from the Thruway to Willow Street along this historic road, it is now fragmented and the blocked segment will be lost as nature reclaims it.

Previous actions have closed sections of the Kings Highway on both sides of Karner Road including the original starting points of the Schoharie Road and the 1792 State Road (Old State Road).

Remnants of human habitation along these roads are likewise ignored and returned to nature. Just how much ecological damage would be caused by maintaining these roads as part of the trail system and celebrating them with trail markers so the public can enjoy the historical quality of the preserve? Or would the Preserve prefer the public not know, in order to facilitate making trail changes with less resistance?

I recently spent several hours marking satellite images and trail maps to identify where the historic roads still exist, and sent these along with a letter to Christopher Hawver, executive director of the commission. A response came from the stewardship director. No acknowledgement was made of the materials I provided.

His letter stated, in part, “Keeping these sections of historic roads open to [the] public as trails would, unfortunately, conflict with the Commission’s other ecological and recreational objectives.” We can only conclude that, when history and ecology conflict, history is the loser.

Steven Rider

Albany

Editor’s note: See related story.