BY JOE GORDEN
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Game Commission will meet today at agency headquarters to take public comment and hear staff reports in preparation for its formal meeting on Tuesday.
Today’s session begins at 8:30 a.m. with public testimony from speakers limited to five minutes each. When all members of the public have had a chance to address the commissioners, the board will hear reports from staff members.
Among those reports is expected to be a recommendation that the commissioners approve a request from the Governor’s Youth Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation and the Pa. Fox and Coyote Hunters Association to add coyotes to the list of species that youth may take under the Mentored Youth Hunting Program.
Now, mentored youth may hunt squirrels, groundhogs, deer and spring gobblers. The hunters association has sought to have coyotes added to the list since the program was instituted in 2006. The youth council added its support to the idea earlier this year.
The agenda also includes a proposed land exchange in Somerset County between the game commission and Ann Higdon that would allow Higdon a 16-foot wide easement for electric, telephone and cable access across State Game Land 82 near Glencoe in Northampton Township.
In exchange for the easement, Higdon has offered to trade more than 11 acres in Northampton Township adjacent to SGL 82. The appeal for the game commission is that the trade would straighten an irregular-shaped game-land boundary. The agency also would gain from an agreement with Higdon that no occupied structure would be built on the remainder of her property closer than 150 yards from the game land boundary.
That provision would eliminate potential safety-zone conflicts for hunters using the SGL 82.
A significant item on the agenda is the consideration of deer-reduction tools in urban and suburban areas. Noting that hunting is the agency’s top choice for deer control, the staff also concedes that hunting is not possible in some densely population areas that have deer problems. The commissioners will consider whether to expand regulations that restrict deer control permits only to political subdivisions to include other groups such as homeowners associations.
The commissioners also are expected to make adjustments to requirements for permits for wildlife rehabilitators and wildlife nuisance control operators.
The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found on the agency Web site (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by clicking the “Next Commissioners’ Meeting” box at the bottom of the page, then clicking on the “agenda” link.
Tuesday’s formal session also begins at 8:30 a.m. at agency headquarters in Harrisburg.
