PFSC Testimony Provided to PA Game Commission at April 25, 2005 Meeting

Good morning President Riley, Commissioners, Executive Director Ross, staff and guests. My name is Melody Zullinger and I am the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. We represent approximately 95,000 sportsmen and women from 50 affiliated counties and over 300 clubs throughout the Commonwealth.

I’d like to begin my testimony with the following statement: “The PFSC voices their support for the deer and habitat research currently being conducted by the PGC and the DCNR, and requests that the PGC (Commissioners) make adjustments to the deer management plan based on those findings and biological data”. That was the motion at our Spring Convention, on March 13, made by the Clinton County delegate, and approved by a vote of 42 delegates in favor, one opposed.

The recently released FLIR data, although not complete, appears to indicate that the current deer management plan has been effective, but may need some minor adjustments. It also appears to indicate that the trends indicated by the agency’s harvest data are valid. As a Board, you now have more information available to you than any prior Board of Commissioners, prior to making your deer management decisions, and we trust that you will utilize that data to make those decisions in the best interests of our resources.

Although the deer management issue has certainly been controversial and garnered the headlines over the past several months, there are other, pressing issues before us. We are extremely concerned over the recently reported detection of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in captive whitetail deer just across our northern border. It is imperative that this agency and the Department of Agriculture initiate whatever measures are necessary to insure the protection of Pennsylvania’s deer herd. Our organization is ready and willing to assist you in whatever measures you feel are necessary, whether they require legislative or regulatory action. Being on the forefront of CWD prevention/detection is not an option, it is a must.

We should not have to wait until it crosses our borders before implementing mandatory monitoring.

I’d also like to advise you of our intent to pursue legislation that would provide financial stability to the agency through an increase in license fees. We are working with approximately ten other statewide organizations to develop a recommended package of increases, along with an annual cost of living adjustment, to avoid future large, periodic increases. This is an initiative of the coalition of organizations, and we’d like to express our appreciation for the cooperation we are receiving from staff in providing us with information when requested. It is our hope to meet with key legislators in early May, and attempt to have a house bill introduced shortly thereafter. We want a financial package that not only restores recently proposed program cuts, but also is sufficient to expand programs such as land acquisition, hunter education and habitat improvement and research.

We will also be continuing our push to see that both the Fish & Boat Commission and the Game Commission receive funding for infrastructure from whatever Growing Greener II package is approved.

In closing, we’d like to thank you for your dedication to preserving and protecting all of PA’s wildlife, and for your willingness to serve in what most times probably feels like an unappreciated and frustrating job, not to mention its an unpaid job at that. We do appreciate what you do, and we trust that you will continue to make decisions based on sound science that are in the best interests of all our resources; not just today, but throughout the service of your terms as commissioners.

Thank you.

Melody Zullinger