It is home to the Karner blue butterfly, an endangered species first identified by author Vladimir Nabokov in 1944 using a type specimen from the Pine Bush.

The Dutch granted a patent in 1661 under the name of Schenectady to a settlement on a bend in the Mohawk River to the west of the Pine Bush and about 20 miles from Fort Orange.

[12] To the settlers at Fort Orange, the settlement on the Mohawk River started by Arent van Curler was "beyond the pine plains", and therefore the name Schenectady (in various spellings) became associated with the village at that site.

[15] During the war from 1699 to 1707, Albany residents collected firewood from the Pine Bush for the large army that was camped at Fort Frederick.

Others, largely from work camps in Dutchess County along the Hudson River, settled further west in the valley in 1723, past Little Falls on the Burnetsfield Patent.

[11] Travel became easier in 1793 following the revolution, when a stage coach began carrying passengers between the two cities and through the Pine Bush for three cents per mile.

On July 2, 1830, the DeWitt Clinton pulled the first passenger train in the United States, traveling over the 16-mile (26 km) route through the heart of the Pine Bush.

One of the earliest residents was Theophillus Roessle, who owned a large farm and manor in what is now the hamlet of Roessleville, just outside Albany in the town of Colonie.

[11] The Patroon Creek, roughly where three feeder streams joined in the heart of the Pine Bush along Albany's northern border, was dammed in 1850 to form Rensselaer Lake waterworks.

"[23] This law authorized Albany to lay out the newly annexed territory into lots and acquire land for a park system to connect the Rensselaer Lake waterworks property to the old city border.

"[27] The city never acquired more land for a park here, and portions of the original waterworks property were sold off piecemeal and developed over the following century.

[33] Mayor Corning gave archaeologist Don Rittner a $500 donation in 1972 to excavate the Truax Tavern along the King's Highway.

[35] In 1967, a portion of Albany's waterworks/Pine Bush property in the town of Colonie along Central Avenue was sold to developers who built the Northway Mall.

Among the local politicians who opposed the bill was Albany Mayor Thomas Whalen III, who sparred with Assemblyman Connors in a series of letters.

Its members consist of representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, The Nature Conservancy, the towns of Colonie and Guilderland, and the city of Albany, Albany County; and four private citizens appointed by the governor.

Fees paid by other jurisdictions and businesses enable the landfill to generate $4–5 million annually to the Albany budget; city residents are provided with free trash collection.

[42] The city committed to spending $18 million to restore Pine Bush habitat in exchange for gaining approval of the 2010 expansion.

[6] Underlying the Albany Pine Bush is a bedrock consisting of shale and siltstone, laid down 450 million years ago during the Middle Ordovician.

The remaining pine barrens are dominated by pitch pine (Pinus rigida), a tall shrub layer consisting of bear oak and dwarf chestnut oak (Quercus ilicifolia and Quercus prinoides), and a low shrub layer composed of lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium pallidum), black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), and sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina).

Between areas of pitch pine-scrub oak barrens are small patches of grassland dominated by prairie grasses, including big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), as well as small trees like the shrubby willows (Salix humilis and Salix tristis).

Characteristic flowering plants include New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus), bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), goat's-rue (Tephrosia virginiana), and wild lupine (Lupinus perennis).

[6] Due to prolonged periods of natural fire suppression, much of the Pine Bush has evolved into northern or southern hardwood forests.

These forests, often dominated by invasive species, occupy roughly 500 acres (200 ha) of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.

In contrast the northern hardwood forests are dominated by aspen (Populus), black cherry, red maple (Acer rubrum), white pine (Pinus strobus), gray birch (Betula populifolia), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), and oaks.

Roughly 35 acres (14 ha) of vernal pools have been mapped, these are ground-water fed ponds that are dominated by grasses, sedges, herbs, and low shrubs.

Bog bluegrass occurs at the bottom of a ravine in the Pine Bush and is the only place in the New York Bight watershed where this plant appears.

The most well-known species in the area is the Karner blue (Plebejus melissa samuelis), discovered in the 1940s and named by the author and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov.

Attempts to reintroduce the butterfly focus on the food and host plant for its larvae – the wild blue lupine, which needs frequent forest fires to maintain its habitat.

Other regionally rare butterflies include the dusted skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna), mottled duskywing (Erynnis martialis), frosted elfin (Incisalia irus), and Edward's hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii).