Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs 2426 North Second St. ● Harrisburg, PA 17110 Phone: 717-232-3480 ● Fax: 717-231-3524 info@pfsc.org ● www.pfsc.org Providing leadership and advocacy for the enhancement of fish and wildlife resources for the benefit of all hunters, anglers and conservationists.

February 20, 2007

Dear Governor Rendell:

This is a request for consideration of the disposition of about 1,800 acres of state lands at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, Benner Township, Centre County. The Pennsylvania State University administration advises in public meetings that you committed 1,200 acres of that public land to Penn State for the university’s expansion. Recent events suggest that decision may not be the best use of this land or in the best public interest.

Several years ago the construction of Interstate 99 through Centre County separated about 1,800 acres from the remainder of other State Correctional Institution at Rockview lands. Thereafter, the Department of General Services declared the isolated 1,800 acres to be surplus to state needs. Included in the 1,800 acres is a parcel called the Spring Creek Valley Biological Diversity Area (BDA), an area of about 350 acres of special natural beauty and listed in both the Pennsylvania and the Centre County Natural Heritage Inventories as requiring exceptional protection, the very highest category of protection for reasons stated therein.[1]

Senator Jake Corman and Benner Township supervisors (in which the 1,800 acres are located) initiated an effort to obtain and protect these public lands for the public through appropriate legislation. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) was contracted by the township to conduct a preliminary Spring Creek Valley Ecological Assessment to recommend the best way to protect the Spring Creek Valley before legislation was introduced. Benner Township also established a Citizens Advisory Committee comprised of representatives of local conservation and preservation organizations, most with state wide affiliations, representing a wide spectrum of potential public users, to render advice to the township on the best method to protect and publicly use the Spring Creek Valley.

The Conservancy assessed and reported that the Spring Creek Valley is very fragile and subject to considerable stress and in great danger of loss because it is protected only by a very narrow corridor of woodlands as described in the natural heritage inventories and the Conservancy’s preliminary report. It is recommended that all 1,800 acres either remain or revert to forest lands to buffer and protect the Spring Creek Valley. The 1,800 acres would still be available for public use. The Citizens Advisory Committee endorsed the WPC preliminary recommendation and further study.

By contrast, Pennsylvania State University, also a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee, maintains that about 1,200 acres of this land, about half cropland and half woodland, was committed to the university by you at a price of about $950 per acre and far below full market value. Penn State is a nonprofit corporation not a public entity in the sense of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, or the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. All of which have a mission and resources to protect public land exactly like this land.

Because Penn State recently agreed to compensate the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service $8.3 million (about $7 million remaining in escrow) for destroying 950 acres of Compartment C, State Game Lands 176 (in adjacent Patton Township), there is obligation, commitment, agreement, and available funding to pay the cost needed to reforest and conserve all 1,800 acres to replace Compartment C. The Conservancy’s report advises that hunting should be continued to protect this land and as you know state games lands are public lands available for a wide range of non-hunting conservation oriented recreational activity. This is a good fit.

We believe it is in the best public interest to conserve this land in accordance with Article 1, Section 27, of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Inventory. Article 1 (footnote below) is not ambiguous. [2]

We request that you advise if you did in fact commit 1,200 acres to Pennsylvania State University or if you believe this land should be utilized in the best interest of the People of Pennsylvania in a manner which permits regulated public use and which best protects this threatened biological diversity area and for which the full protection of appropriate state conservation agencies is encouraged.

This letter has been shared with Senator Corman and Representatives Bennginghoff, Hanna, and Conklin.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

Melody Zullinger

Executive Director

cc: Robb Miller, Governor’s Sportsmen’s Advisor

Carl Roe, Executive Director, PGC

Doug Austen, Executive Director, PFBC

Secretary Michael DiBeradinis, DCNR

---

[1] Exceptional Protection defined as: “Sites that are of exceptional importance for the biological diversity and ecological integrity of the county or region. Sites in this category contain one or more occurrences of state or national species of special concern or a rare natural community type that are of a good size and extent and are in a relatively undisturbed condition. Sites of exceptional significance merit quick, strong and complete protection.”

[2] “The People have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, and historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the People, including generations yet to come. As trustees of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the People.”