Stop the attack on wildlife and let wildlife professionals do their jobs

The natural gas, coal and other industries have launched an unprecedented attack on Pennsylvania's wildlife and the ability of our wildlife management agencies to preserve and protect the diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians that inhabit Penn's Woods. Every citizen who cares about the web of life and the natural inheritance we leave to future generations should be deeply concerned.

House Bill 1576 and Senate Bill 1047 would undermine the longstanding independence of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and severely limit their ability to protect Pennsylvania's threatened and endangered species.

If this bad legislation becomes law:

• It would be extremely difficult for the Game Commission and the Fish & Boat Commission to list any species in Pennsylvania as state threatened or state endangered unless the species was nearing national extinction.
• Wildlife management agency decisions now made on the basis of facts and science would be significantly politicized and subject to a cumbersome and lengthy regulatory review process.
• Every species now listed as Pennsylvania threatened or endangered would be removed from the list unless they could be approved under the new rules within two years.
• Permits for gas drilling, mining and other development activities would be allowed to be issued without making the applicant check for the presence of Pennsylvania threatened and endangered species.
• The Fish & Boat Commission's ability to protect streams that qualify as wild trout streams would be severely limited.
• The Game Commission and the Fish & Boat Commission may lose significant federal funding.

Protecting species at the state level is the most effective way to prevent their decline and extinction nationally. Robust state wildlife conservation programs are critical to avoiding a listing of a species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Pennsylvania has a long and proud tradition of allowing independent commissions staffed by nationally-recognized wildlife experts to manage the wildlife of Pennsylvania without political interference. These bills would end that tradition.

Please contact your state representative and state senator and urge them to oppose HB 1576 and SB 1047. PennFuture now has an action alert on our web site to make it easy for citizens to take action on this critical issue. 

Help us stop the attack on wildlife in Pennsylvania and let wildlife professionals do their jobs.