New PA Game Lands Dedication
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has recently acquired 6500 acres in the Fox Township area of Elk County. This is a huge deal for hunters since these new game lands will be targeted for small game habitat. Pheasants Forever Chapter 630 has pledge to assist with planning and habitat planting.
PHEASANT FOREVER MEMBERS ATTEND THE DEDICATION 8-11-08
from Center Daily.com
Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
Afield New acquisitions
These major purchases, totaling over 7,500 acres, are examples of the Commission's recent attempts to acquire small game habitat as well as traditional forest habitat. The first was an addition to SGL 100, near Keewaydin, just north of the Centre County line. The second purchase was an addition to SGL 44, north of Brockway.
The larger of the two purchases, the Kocjancic tract, contains 6,519 acres and connects SGL 54 in Jefferson County to SGL 44 in Elk County. According to PGC Director of Wildlife Habitat Management William Capouillez, "This addition is the largest s ingle purchase of game lands in over 25 years." The purchase of the Kocjancic tract makes one of the largest contiguous tracts of game lands in the state, providing better access to SGL 54, as well as to existing portions of SGL 44.
"This is a great day for the sportsmen of Pennsylvania and a great day for the Game Commission," said Northcentral Region Director Dennis Dusza at the ceremony near Brandy Camp. Over 50 people attended the dedication. Dusza referred to the purchase as a "career capper â the biggest highlight of all my time with the Commission.' Dusza has been with the PGC for 31 years.
"This is awesome," exclaimed Tom Mattiuz, secretary of the Fox Township Sportsmenâs Club. "I'm really glad that the Game Commission was able to do this." Mattiuz's club raises several hundred pheasants for local stocking each fall. Club president Randy Gradizzi added, 'This will be good for our youth programs, and it adds a lot more land for small game hunting."
The tract was purchased for hunters and trappers for $400 per acre, or about $2.6 million. Dusza explained that the land was one purchase. It was divided into two parcels - the Brandy Camp parcel (1,551 acres east of Route 219) and the Meade Run parcel west of Route 219. The PGC paid over $1.3 million just for the timber on the Brandy Camp parcel, but on the larger parcel, a ten-year timber reservation was granted to the previous owner in order to facilitate the purchase.
"We just couldn't have purchased the larger tract of land and the timber, too," Dusza explained. "I thought that it was better for us to gain the property without the timber, rather than missing it altogether. Fortunately, the commissioners agreed." Timber rights will revert to the PGC in 2018.
Dusza expressed extreme disappointment with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to approve the funding for the purchase of the Kocjancic tract.
"This was a deal that almost didn't happen. It was the worst day of my life," Dusza commented when recounting his experience with the UFWS at their Massachusetts office. "We had struck a deal with the Kocjancic family, and it soon became clear that Fish and Wildlife didnât see good habitat here and wasn't going to allow us to use the escrow money from the sale of part of SGL 176 to Penn State. This tract of undeveloped land was just too good to pass up, so where were we going to come up with that kind of money on short notice?"
However, come up with the money, they did. "We signed a nice contract with Chesapeake Appalachia L.L.C., for a natural gas lease and royalties on SGL 75 in Lycoming County," Dusza said. 'That financed the purchase of the 6, 500 acres for SGL 44."
The local Pheasants Forever chapter provided lunch for the enthusiastic group after the dedication. The Fox Township Sportsmen's Club hosted and served the meal.
Earlier in the day, the 994-acre Woolridge tract of former strip-mined land was added to SGL 100 in Clearfield County. A dedication was held at the site near Keewaydin, not far from the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
"The addition of this tract would have been a big event in and of itself, but today it is just overshadowed by the purchase of the larger tract in Elk County," Dusza said.
Mosquito Creek Sportsmen Club vice president Dean Carper commented about the land and its opportunities. "This private land was posted, and now it is open for all of us to hunt on. I like to see un-posted ground - it was a good move by the Commission."
The bulk of the land at both sites consists of reclaimed strip mines; however, a good crop of natural herbaceous vegetation is already established. Patches of valuable wildlife trees, such as aspen, also exist and there are evergreen thickets that provide good thermal cover. Rabbits, deer, turkey and bear already inhabit both game lands, and many of the attendees saw a flock of turkeys on SGL 44 as they neared the dedication site.
According to Dusza, time was of the essence and both game land purchases, as well as the natural gas lease to finance the SGL 44 addition, therefore some of them were handled through a rare notational votes by the Commission. The vote and discussion was conducted by telephone, rather than at a regularly-scheduled Game Commission meeting. The approval for alternate funding was made at the regular June meeting.
Northcentral region commissioner Russ Schleiden reflected on his appointed term, which is nearing its end. "I hope that you can see that the work we do is pretty obvious," Schleiden said to the gathering. âSince I got on board as a commissioner, we've acquired close to 50,000 acres of land for hunters and all Pennsylvania citizens to enjoy. Fifty thousand acres in eight years is pretty significant, and we are doing it with less and less revenue."
According to Capouillez, acquiring the land was only the beginning. Big plans are in the works for developing both properties into prime small game hunting destinations. The Commission also hopes to acquire grants to clean up the acid mine drainage that is currently leaching from the properties.
"We have the land, and now I, along with our food and cover crew, have the pleasure of developing it," commented Northcentral Regional Land Management Supervisor Pete Aiken. "It is good now, but we'll make it better for the hunters."
Plans at both locations include soil augmentation and wildlife plantings.
Seventy-five hundred more acres for public hunting - it was truly a great day for the sportsmen and sportswomen of Pennsylvania.
Mark Nale, who lives in the Bald Eagle Valley, is a member of the PA Outdoor Writers Association. He can be reached at MarkAngler@aol.com.