State game lands are wild places
Last fall, at a dedication ceremony for a newly secured parcel of public hunting land in Jefferson County, the Pennsylvania Game Commission placed a marker denoting the 1.5 million acres of state game lands.
Butler County contributed to that total with three major state game lands.
Game lands 95 is the largest at 9,383 acres and features Harbor Acres Lake and Glade Lake, said Jeff Kendall, supervisor of the land management group which oversees game lands in Butler and Lawrence counties.
Half of Glade Lake and part of its shoreline are closed to hunting (275 acres), Kendall said. The area is considered a good location to hunt bear, deer, turkey, small game and waterfowl. Osprey and bald eagle nests can also be found.
“It stretches east and west from Iron Mountain to Parker,” said Kendall of Game lands 95. “It's in four different compartments. It's not contiguous.
Game lands 164, however, he noted, is contiguous and is north of Route 422 in the eastern half of the county. It features deer and bear on its 456 acres.
“Game land 304 is in the easternmost part of the county, north of Route 422 and south of Petrolia,” Kendall said.
Game lands 304's 457 acres are noted for their turkey population.
The commission recognized early the importance of protecting land for wildlife.
Commission publicist Regis Senko for the 10-county Northwest Region that includes Butler County, said, “Game lands are purchased from fees raised from hunters and trappers and the lands are used for hunting, trapping and wildlife habitat.”
“There's no money from the state's general fund used by the commission,” said Kendall. “All the money comes from hunting and trapping fees. The game lands are run by the commission. State parks are run by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, a totally different agency.”“We manage game lands to actually make it better for various wildlife species,” said Senko.In 1905, the Game Commission, working with the General Assembly, had brought Pennsylvania its first state game refuge, according to Joe Kosack, associate editor of the Game News magazine.But it quickly became apparent that wildlife needed more than the leased lands refuges provided. Wildlife needed lands managed by the commission exclusively for wildlife.In 1919, legislation was approved authorizing the Game Commission to buy property as “state game lands.” Their primary purposes were to provide protected wildlife habitat and public hunting grounds, Kosack said.That's still the job today, said Kendall.“My main job is to plan all habitat work: timber harvesting and planting food plots: corn, clover fields, sunflower fields, for both game you can hunt and game you can't. I'm charged with managing all of it,” said Kendall. He has a three-man crew in Butler County and a three-man crew in Lawrence County to put his plans into action.Senko said that while the game lands are primarily for the management of wildlife people can still enjoy the areas without hunting.
“Some of the game lands do have trails. People do hike on them,” said Senko.The Game Commission purchased its first game lands — SGL 25 in Elk County — in 1920. It was 6,288 acres that sold for $2.75 an acre. That translates in an almost unbelievable total of $17,292 ($215,000 in 2015 dollars) for nearly 10 square miles of forestland, according to Kosack.By 1936, even in the Great Depression, the commission was able to continue buying land through the steady sale of hunting and trapping licenses, according to Kosack.Hunting was important to many families, Kosack said, and few passed up the opportunities it provided in acquiring meals.Senko said, “License sales seemed to peak in the 1980s. Still, Pennsylvania is one of the largest states in regard to license sales.”Kosack said timber sales, Marcellus shale gas extraction and coal mining on game lands have brought the agency $140 million since 2005.The Game Commission's strategy for the future, outlined in its strategic plan 2015-2020, calls for the agency to change game land management practices to large-scale, high-quality habitats through planting native warm-season grasses, old-field management and prescribed fire.The commission also will begin to decrease use of high-input, single-value plantings and practices — such as agricultural plantings — and focus as much effort as possible to enhance hunter opportunities on game lands.Kosack said the game lands remain an important asset for wildlife conservation and to ensure the continuation of the Commonwealth's hunting heritage.
They also guarantee there will always be some “rough country” for those who prefer to spend their time in Penn's Woods in places that have an air of wildness about them.
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