On April 7, 2019 the Buckingham Pond Conservancy held its annual meeting at the Pine Hills Branch of the Albany Public Library.

2018 was a great year for the BPC! In addition to the official ribbon cutting for the playground, we have been working on adding additional amenities to the park. You may have noticed three new benches that were recently installed! And if you have been wondering why a large boulder was placed near the playground, we have an answer…the boulder will soon have a bronze plaque and will be the official sign for the playground thanking our generous donors and project partners.

Another focus for the BPC is improving the ecological health of the park. The park has many invasive plant species that choke out native plants. The BPC has been working the with Capital-Mohawk Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) to help identify invasive plant species and replace with appropriate native plants. Gwendolyn Temple of the Capital-Mohawk PRISM gave a helpful overview of the issues at Buckingham Pond Park and potential solutions at the annual meeting.

Martin Daley from the Capital District Regional Planning Committee spoke about the value of rain barrels during the annual meeting.

As you know, a lot of stormwater runoff goes into the pond. By capturing runoff on site (in a rain barrel) YOU can help improve the water quality of the pond. Please contact the Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District for more information and to purchase a rain barrel.

To further our efforts to improve the water quality of the pond, the BPC is working with the Department of General Services at the northwest end of the pond trail. You may have noticed an area cordoned off with “caution” tape…inside that area is an erosion turf mat that DGS has installed. The BPC and the city want to move away from using stone dust on the pond trail because stone dust is easily carried into the pond during significant rain events. The purpose of the test area is to see how the turf mat handles the stormwater run off  and if it could be used elsewhere along the pond trail.

Our final speaker at our annual meeting was none other than Congressman Paul Tonko! Congressman Tonko briefed the group about his new role as chair of the Environment and Climate Change sub-committee of the House Energy / Commerce committee in Washington.

Lastly, a special THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who came out on April 14th for our spring clean-up day! It was a success! As you know, the BPC is an all-volunteer group—we rely on annual memberships to fund projects to improve the park. If you haven’t done so already, please consider renewing your membership.

Thanks for your support and we’ll see you around the Pond!

Regards,

Elisabeth Draper
President, Buckingham Pond Conservancy