Pennsylvania Game News - March 2024 - 47

JANUARY COMMISSIONERS MEETING
Decision on martens tabled
Commissioners will further evaluate possible reintroduction.
The Pennsylvania Board of
Commissioners, in a split vote at
the January meeting, tabled plans to
reintroduce American martens into the
state.
The vote was 6-3, with Commissioners
Robert Schwalm, Scott Foradora, Allen
Di Marco, Kristen Schnepp-Giger,
Stanley Knick and Todd Pride voting in
favor of tabling the plan. Commissioners
Dennis Fredericks, Michael Mitrick and
Haley Sankey opposed.
Commission staff developed an
American marten reintroduction and
management plan for Pennsylvania
that outlines a long-term, 10-year
strategy to translocate the species
back to the state and then conduct
long-term monitoring to evaluate the
reintroduction. It included strategies on
communications, partner engagement,
costs and timelines.
Commissioners authorized staff to
put the plan out for public comment
in September. Nearly 1,000 people
weighed in, with the majority of those
being supportive of the idea. Likewise,
surveys of public opinion on the matter
were favorable. And nearly two dozen
people, including the Pennsylvania
Trappers Association, testified at
Saturday's meeting to echo those
comments.
However, a Game Commission
survey of hunters - which generated
nearly 9,000 responses - found that
37% supported marten reintroduction,
32% opposed it and 31% were neutral.
That fi nal fi gure is highly unusual,
several commissioners noted. While
MARCH 2024
Board reorganization
The Pennsylvania Board of Game
Commissioners reorganized for 2024,
appoin� ng new offi cers.
Scott Foradora, of District 3 in
northcentral Pennsylvania, will serve as
president. Dennis Fredericks, of District
2 in southwestern Pennsylvania, will
serve as vice president and Allen
Di Marco, of District 5 in northcentral
Pennsylvania, will serve as secretary.
Many of the commissioners
expressed their gra� tude to outgoing
president Kristen Schnepp-Giger for her
leading the board in the past year, and
her commitment to wildlife.
" Your passion for the resource is
second to none, " Foradora said.
Meanwhile, Foradora thanked
fellow commissioners for their
confi dence in him to serve as president,
no� ng his new offi ce doesn't elevate
his authority.
" We're all equal in our votes, " he
said.
the commission's marten plan is wellresearched,
the results of the survey
indicate the agency has some work to
do with hunters before moving forward,
they said.
Schwalm added he's also concerned
Pennsylvania's climate and forests have
changed substantially since martens
- a native species to Pennsylvania -
went missing about a century ago. He
wants more time to explore whether a
reintroduction would serve them well or
set them up to disappear again.
Fredericks, though, said the
commission's marten plan is " impeccable "
and he would have been confi dent moving
forward with it now.
47
Pennsylvania Game News - March 2024

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