Pennsylvania Game Commission Delivers Annual Report to Legislature
HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today delivered the agency's annual report to the House Game and Fisheries Committee at an informational meeting in the State Capitol. To view a copy of the annual report, go to the Game Commission's website (http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/), click on "Reports/Minutes," then select "2005 Legislative Annual Report." Following is the text of Roe's prepared statement.
"Thank you Chairman Smith, Chairman Staback and members of the House Game and Fisheries Committee," Roe said. "We appreciate the opportunity to offer our presentation today.
"While this is not the first time I've appeared before this committee to offer testimony or assist in making a presentation on behalf of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, it is the first time I've come before you as executive director.
"With more than 30 years of my professional experience having been spent outside the agency, many people have asked why I was interested in being selected for this position. Personally, it was a very easy decision. What better mission can an organization have than to manage our wildlife resources and preserve our great hunting and trapping heritage for current and future generations? We also have a tremendous workforce who is engaged everyday trying to conserve and protect our resources. Additionally, we have great partners who assist us in many ways to support our wildlife endeavors. As a hunter and someone who enjoys wildlife, the opportunity to serve this agency and the public is, indeed, an honor.
"As I have stated to the Board of Game Commissioners and the staff of the agency, I have made it our goal to make the Pennsylvania Game Commission the preeminent wildlife agency in the country. Working with the members of this Committee, the General Assembly, our license buying hunters and trappers, conservation partners and the general public, I have no doubt we can make that possibility a reality.
"As we already have presented each member of the Committee with a copy of our Legislative Annual Report, which provides a review of the past year, I now would like to offer some comments about the challenges and goals that we have before us.
"Habitat improvement has long been a major objective of the agency, and members of this Committee. However, it must be noted that the Game Commission controls roughly five percent of the Commonwealth's landscape spread out in more than 600 parcels in 65 of our 67 counties. While 1.4 million acres may seem like a lot, when viewed in this light, it is easy to see how the agency's ability to manage wildlife just on State Game Lands is far more difficult than many understand. DCNR, with its state forest holdings of 2.1 million acres, accounts for slightly more than seven percent. As a landowner, DCNR has different goals and objectives for its land than we do for State Game Lands.
"Also, the Allegheny National Forest's roughly 500,000 acres comprises nearly two percent of the state's land mass. And, as with DCNR, they too have a different set of goals and objectives for their land. In the grand view of our state, any habitat-related work that the Game Commission implements on our five percent of land mass in Pennsylvania is certainly not enough to have a wide-spread impact on wildlife populations, especially when you consider the impact of so many hunters. Therefore, it is imperative that more work be done on private lands, as this is the only way to significantly impact populations across the landscape.
"We view the habitat work done on State Game Lands as the model for other public and private lands, and we very much would like to share this information with interested landowners to benefit wildlife. In the future, we plan to unveil information on our website that landowners can use to construct food plots, plan tree and shrub plantings and prepare other blueprints for habitat improvement on their land whether they own one-half of an acre or 100,000 acres. We plan to ask sportsmen to take control of their own lands to create wildlife habitat using our habitat expertise and plans. We need to increase the public's awareness that their activities and involvement can have an impact. We need to engage the general public to assist in habitat development whether it is backyard, municipal parks, major conservation projects or large privately-owned tracts of land.
"We also would like to offer our habitat improvement experts to work with DCNR on projects geared toward helping wildlife on state forestlands. Using the elk habitat partnership launched in 2001 as a model, we can work together to improve habitat throughout the state forest system, especially those large, contiguous parcels in northcentral Pennsylvania.
"Another habitat improvement tool we are looking to make greater use of is that of controlled burns on State Game Lands. Presently, the Game Commission has treated 329 acres of State Game Lands by conducting controlled burns, each without a mishap. While we recognize public concern about such projects, given the past success and attention to safety precautions, I believe we can expand our use of this tool to greatly improve habitat in other areas of the state.
"Customer service is another area in which the agency has been seeking to improve its offerings. Building on our current online license and merchandise sales, the next step the Game Commission would like to take is the implementation of point-of-sale.
"With point-of-sale in place, hunters would swipe their driver's license through a magnetic reader and all of their personal information would be filled in on the application automatically. Hunters would then select the licenses and stamps they wanted to purchase. After the first time a hunter purchases a license this way, he or she could be assigned a permanent number that would be stored in an electronic file so in subsequent years the hunter would only need to enter changes for their personal information and the types of licenses or stamps wanted. The process time would be much faster for the license buyer.
"What will this mean for the average license issuing agent? First, by having a system that audits while they sell, point-of-sale will eliminate the time intensive need to audit and report under the old paper system. Additionally, they will have reports automatically generated for their own accounting purposes. It eliminates much of the burden on the agents.
"What will such a system mean to the Game Commission? Besides fulfilling our goal of making the agency and its programs more user-friendly, we will finally, after all of these years, have a computer database of all of our license buyers. Such a database would enable the agency to conduct more surveys of our license buyers on a regular basis. We would no longer need to pay to have the names, addresses and telephone numbers data-entered. Or we could conduct random surveys of every license buyer by asking them one or two questions. We also will use the database to have a real retention program. We would know the churn rate of our hunters and be able to notify them and find out why they did not purchase a license. There are many other uses for the database, and we will explore many opportunities.
"Of course, implementation of the point-of-sale license system is based on our ability to find the necessary revenues to move forward. Without a license fee increase, we may be forced to make additional cuts in programs and services that will affect other stakeholders.
"Obviously, deer management is a continuous challenge. We have heard from the public, both pro and con, on the deer situation. All public lands comprises approximately 20 percent of the land in the Commonwealth, and 80 percent of the land is in private hands. When I hear the observation that there are more deer on private land than public land, I respond: "Of course." I believe we have areas where the deer herd may have been reduced too much, and I know we have areas where there are too many deer and are not in balance with their habitat. Once deer harvest data is available in late March, the Board will be able to consider making changes to various season lengths by WMU.
"Later this winter, we look to gather current deer sighting data from a series of aerial flights over a number of State Game Lands thanks to an appropriation approved by the Legislature to DCNR. The goal was to select State Game Lands of differing sizes, topography, proximity to populated areas and regions. It is important to remember that FLIR data represents those deer sighted on a particular parcel, on a given day and time. However, it represents the minimum number of deer that may be present and shows grouped deer numbers that are then used to calculate a per square mile number.
"The Game Commission also is looking to better serve all our stakeholders and to continue to get our message out about our wildlife management successes, such as the turkey, bear and elk programs and the reintroduction of bald eagles, peregrine falcons, otter and fishers. I could go on with many more examples, but I will add one more not so glamorous species for which we are responsible. On State Game Land 51 in Fayette County, we closed down and sealed off the Casparis Mine, which had become a public safety concern. As part of the final stages of the project, we placed two separate bat gates at the top of two of the entrances to allow bats to enter the deep mine during the fall of the year to hibernate, while still excluding the public from dangerous conditions inside the mine.
"During a recent inspection, bats and wood rats have returned, including the Indiana bat, which is on the state and federal endangered species lists. The wood rat is on the state's threatened species list. I know these are not viewed in the same light as game species, but it is a reminder that the Game Commission is responsible for a total of 465 wild birds and mammals. Why did the bats and rats come back? The answer is habitat.
"Thanks to the Legislature, Administration and Pennsylvania voters, the Game Commission is able to financially benefit from a $625 million bond issue. As part of the annual report, I have included two appendixes. The first provides an allocation plan detailing the projects to be funded for the first year, including the amount of each project and the anticipated environmental benefit. The second appendix is an anticipated listing of projects to be funded during year two of the bond. We plan to present another report on the agency's use of these bond monies by June 30.
"Our financial situation is perhaps the greatest near-term challenge we face. By the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year, we anticipate that the Game Fund will have around $20 million in it. And, while that may seem like a sufficient reserve, that figure can be somewhat misleading. For example, in the first two months of the 2006-07 fiscal year, right after licenses go on sale and before revenues are placed into the Game Fund, the agency will need a minimum of $14 million to keep our doors open. That is the reserve we need to pay salaries and pay utilities until license sale monies flow into the Game Fund in late August.
"So, the real estimated unreserved Game Fund balance at the end of this fiscal year will be closer to $6 million. Again, while sizable, the agency is lucky to have that $6 million, which is the result of our timber revenues coming in at $4 million more than anticipated and a $2 million one-time, upfront payment for a coal lease in Lycoming County received at the end of the 2004-05 fiscal year. Without this extra $6 million, we may have been without sufficient funding at the beginning of the 2005-06 fiscal year.
"Lastly, in the upcoming 2006-07 fiscal year, personnel costs, which are set by the Commonwealth's current state employee contract and not the Game Commission, will increase nearly $2.8 million. This increase will, in effect, cut the Game Fund balance of $6 million in half. If the new in lieu of tax rate is passed, it would mean an increase of $3.4 million in payments. This would move the total required payment to municipalities from $1.7 million to $5.1 million. If you add the in lieu of tax increase of $3.4 million to the increased personnel costs it comes to $6.2 million and wipes out the unreserved fund. The problem is exacerbated because the in lieu of taxes are due prior to September 1. The amount of money required in the Game Fund to open the doors on July 1 will then increase by $3.4 million to almost $17.5 million. This problem may be eased somewhat by the point-of-sale system that will improve our cash flow. However, the increased costs and payment for the system also must be taken into consideration and may cancel the affect of improved cash flow.
"The following Game Fund summary will provide an overview of the information I just covered.
Beginning Balance June 30, 2005 $23,169,919
Revenues July, 2005-January, 2006 $54,066,930
Expenses July, 2005-January, 2006 $42,969,238
GAME FUND BALANCE -January 31, 2006 $34,267,611
Anticipated Revenues February-June, 2006 $13,595,159
Anticipated Expenses February-June, 2006 $27,135,762
PROJECTED GAME FUND BALANCE
JUNE 30, 2006 $20,727,008
"These figures also take into account two assumptions: first, that all estimated revenues for fiscal year 2005-06 will amount to $67,662,089; and second, that expenditures will not exceed our authorized limit of $70,105,000.
"For fiscal year 2006-07, assuming that we balance the budget next year, we may have insufficient funds to meet requirements on July 1, 2007. I am sure you are concerned about what would happen if we do not get increased resources. Basically, it would result in a considerable reduction in services. We would not be able to conduct a much-needed training class for Wildlife Conservation Officers. We currently have more than 10 percent of WCO districts vacant, and I anticipate that it will increase in the next few months. We would reduce hours of operation in our regional offices, limiting our ability to respond to constituent calls. Programs also may be reduced or eliminated, which could require placing personnel on furlough.
"In closing, I believe that the immediate challenge facing this agency is its financial situation. However, the long-term and more important challenge is recruitment of our youth into the outdoors, especially into hunting and trapping. We - and I mean all of us - have some significant challenges ahead of us in order to keep our hunting and trapping heritage alive and well for future generations. The Game Commission will increase communication with our partners, sportsmen's clubs and the general public. We need to stand together and not let immediate individual program issues get in the way of our long- term goals of managing all wildlife resources and insuring our grandchildren have the same opportunity to pass on our love for the resource and our hunting and trapping heritage to their grandchildren.
"I look forward to working with this committee on our wildlife and fiscal issues, and building a relationship where we can look back and be proud of the legacy we leave. Remember, wildlife needs your support."
Source: Pennsylvania Game Commission
CONTACT: Jerry Feaser of Pennsylvania Game Commission, +1-717-705-6541,
PGCNEWS@state.pa.us
Web site: http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/
