Three grassroots groups — Save the Pine Bush, the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth, and the Rapp Road Historical — are raising funds to hire experts that will help them challenge Pyramid’s plans for development.

Neil Gifford of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission said that Pyramid has already suggested adding about 8 acres of land north of the butterfly preserve as part of its mitigation for the proposed apartments on Rapp Road. 

The company cannot “double dip,” he said, and claim that that proposed additional eight acres of butterfly habitat would also mitigate a higher theater. But what Pyramid could do, he said, is put in more money to support management efforts. 

The Karner Kids Film Festival will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center.

“Join us to see some amazingly creative Pine Bush films made by young people,” said Education Program Manager Sara Poggi-Decker in a release from the center.

If the governor signs the bill into law, the Pine Bush Commission will be able to move more quickly to purchase undeveloped properties.

The Lupine Fest, a free celebration hosted by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, will be held this year on June 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Activities will emanate from the Pine Bush Discovery Center at 195 New Karner Road.

Wouldn’t it be possible for the Pine Bush Commission to mark off sections of these trails, with signs to educate people about their history?

GUILDERLAND — “I have always enjoyed traveling on old roads. I’m sort of an old-road nut,” said Steven Rider, a retired middle-school science teacher who has lived in Guilderland for over 40 years.

Climate change may be causing southern pine beetles to move north, where they are killing pine trees.

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission will be offering programs at the Discovery Center during the school break, from Dec. 26 to 30:

— The ninth annual Cookie Burner Stroll is on Tuesday, Dec. 26.  This 2.6-mile hike is for people 8 and older;

In Berne and Knox, two different incidents have raised questions about what to do when people like hikers and rural homeowners encounter hunters or gun clubs.