Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2014 - 3

The mission of the Pennsylvania Fish &
Boat Commission is to protect, conserve
and enhance the Commonwealth's
aquatic resources and provide fishing
and boating opportunities.
PFBC website: www.fishandboat.com

photo-PFBC archives

state's natural resources. This means the state government
is responsible for protecting Pennsylvania's environment on
behalf of its citizens. The result is controlled development
of the state's natural resources rather than no development
at all. The job of the state is to balance the detrimental
effects an activity would have on the environment against
the social, economic and environmental benefits gained."
As my signature line on my e-mails, I often use the
quote from former Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission
(PFBC) Executive Director Ralph Abele, "Do your duty and
fear no one." I believe that the duty of state government is
assigned to us, as public servants, by the laws that we have
in addition to the direction given by our State Constitution,
which I swore to uphold when I took my oath of office as
your Director. Furthermore, state government includes
PFBC and all other state government agencies within the
administrative branch of government in addition to the
legislative and judicial branches of government. Together,
it is our collective responsibility to conserve and maintain
our air, water and public natural resources for the benefit of
all of the people, including generations yet to come.
I needed to provide this background to set the stage
for answering the question posed in the title of this
article. There have been two bills (HB 1576 and SB 1047)
introduced in the Pennsylvania House and Senate to
create an Endangered Species Coordination Act. The title
of the legislation sounds like a good idea. Who wouldn't
support coordinating the protection and conservation of
endangered species? However, it is obvious by reading the
draft legislation that the bills go far beyond coordination.
They create new rules for how PFBC (for fish, amphibians
and reptiles and aquatic life), Pennsylvania Game
Commission (for birds and mammals) and Pennsylvania
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (for
plants) would list or more appropriately, not list, species
as threatened and endangered (T&E) in the future. Why
is this change significant? It is generally understood that
unless the states protect the species at the edges of their
ranges, we will continue to add more species to the federal
list. In addition, the legislation also requires that the
designation of wild trout streams and rare species listings
go through the added review step of the IRRC.
As I write this article, the bill was just amended and
passed out of the House Game and Fisheries Committee

Wild Brook Trout

by a vote of 16 to 8. The bill in its current form would
change the jurisdictional "duty" of the natural resource
agencies and turn the process from one based on science
to one based on politics and economics. The legislature
and industry continue to say that they want "consistency
and transparency" in decision making. So do I. However,
we already have a consistent and transparent process that
the legislature designed when they gave us our authority
almost 30 years ago. In addition, industry and the public
have the right to due process if they disagree with any
decision. In fact, they have two chances to disagree-one
in an appeal of the listing decision and the other in an
appeal of the PA DEP permit.
This effort is supported by a variety of industries that
see it as a way to save time and money. If one wanted to
save time and money, why would we add an additional
regulatory review step that would require more time and
money to get to the final decision? I see it as a way to
create a pathway to a different answer. Currently, we use
scientific observation and fact which creates frustration for
some who are used to political horse trading coupled with
"economic balancing." The question is how do you see it? I
have pledged to make it my personal New Year's resolution
to continue to argue that wild trout and rare species
designations are scientific and not political decisions. I
would like you to consider contacting your local legislators
and letting them know your opinion. The future of our rare
species and wild trout depends on it!

Your Director,
><(John{(°>

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