Pennsylvania Game News - January 2009 - 16

cal year 2007-08 was the second largest amount ever received in Pennsylvania — $11,453,294. State Wildlife Grants Program funding for the Commission was $1,002,110. Through our participation in the Environmental Review Committee (ERC), we were able to consider associated wildlife habitat impacts and ultimately recommend approval for the creation or restoration of a total of 25 acres of wetlands on private lands through the U.S. Fish and 2007-08 Wildlife Service’s Partners for Wildlife program and the Department of Environmental Protection’s Wetland Replacement Fund program. In addition to the Cooperative Public Access Program, other lands under agreement include: State Parks, 283,000 acres; State Forests, 2,100,000 acres; National Forest Lands, 513,161 acres; National Recreation Areas, 24,732 acres; National Wildlife Refuges, 6,116 acres; U.S. Army Corps Lands, 35,224 acres; other, 11,846 acres. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) continues to enhance thousands of acres of wildlife habitat on private lands in Pennsylvania. Since June 2000, 198,713 acres of wildlife habitat have been planned through CREP. Last year, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) received 1,692 CREP applications from more than 800 landowners, who offered to enroll 15,250 acres in conservation cover plantings. PGC and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) wildlife habitat biologists completed 1,505 applications and wrote 1,488 conservation plans encompassing 20,133 acres. The FSA approved 1,332 contracts on more than 21,061 acres. The PGC strives to add a minimum of 3,000 acres to the State Game Lands system each year. In fiscal year 2007, the Commission acquired 1,609 acres, bringing the agency’s total State Game Land acreage to 1,437,499. The State Game Lands system includes 305 separate tracts in 65 counties. During this period the Commission received seven land donations ranging in size from 1.1 to 100 acres. These generous gifts benefit wildlife and hunters and trappers, as well as other citizens who enjoy natural areas. Acquiring interior holdings, indentures and access into existing State Game Lands is always a high priority for the Commission. In FY 2007-08 the Commission acquired three interiors, one indenture and five properties that will provide new access routes into existing State Game Lands. Unfortunately, insufficient funding in recent years has limited our ability to acquire more of these types of highly desirable tracts. Once these tracts are sold and developed the Commission has lost the opportunity to close out these in-holdings and straighten out our boundary lines. There was one new SGL created during the fiscal year. SGL 93 (1,453 acres) was created when the agency acquired land in Somerset County, immediately north of the proposed site of the Flight 93 National Memorial. This new State Game Lands was designated as SGL 93 in honor of Flight 93’s crew and passengers. The previously numbered SGL 93, located in Clearfield County, was renamed SGL 331. With the emphasis to link the Commission’s lands records to a Geographic Information System (GIS), the Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management, working closely with the Bureau of Automated Technology Services, has begun a GIS compatible lands records database. The creation of this new database will allow the Commission to compare data in our previous databases and discern any potential discrepancies in acreage changes due to corrective surveys being completed after the initial consummation, boundary line agreements and other recording errors. Several retirements in the Surveying Section precipitated realignment of the field survey crews from four 3-person crews to six 2-person crews. The goal is to eventually have one 2-person survey crew geographically located in each of the six PGC regions to 16 GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - January 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - January 2009