T H I N G S W E R BEFORE THE GAM Pennsylvania's wildlife losses bordered on catastrophic before the creation of the Game Commission in 1895. Through the 19th century, wildlife lost its habitat to development, was challenged by pollution and was killed for table fare, bounties and target practice. Its eroding presence would eventually lead to the creation of the Game Commission. But Pennsylvania had its fair share of conservationists before sportsmen began imploring the General Assembly to create a state agency to manage and conserve the Commonwealth's game. Some of America's most prominent naturalists and ornithologists already had been actively inventorying the denizens of Penn's Woods, establishing a baseline from which to measure species gains and losses as time and civilization advanced. Most headquartered in one of two cities: Philadelphia or New York City. 6