Readers support more funding for wildlife Christian Berg, Outdoors
Allentown Morning Call - July 10, 2007
More than 70 percent of readers who responded to an online poll said they support a legislative proposal to allocate a small portion of Pennsylvania's sales tax revenue for fish and wildlife conservation.
A total of 207 people had voted in the poll as of Monday afternoon, with 70.53 percent supporting the concept and 26.57 percent opposing it. The remaining 2.9 percent of voters said they had no opinion.
The poll, which is unscientific, was launched as a result of House Bill 1676, which would set aside a fraction of a percent of sales tax revenue for the state Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission. The two agencies currently receive no tax revenue and rely on the sale of hunting, trapping and fishing licenses for the bulk of their income.
The bill's architect, Rep. David K. Levdansky, D-Allegheny and Washington, noted that rising costs and declining license sales have created a situation that leaves the two agencies chronically short of cash needed for wildlife management and habitat conservation. And since the commissions manage fish and wildlife for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians -- not just those who hunt and fish -- it makes sense to require the general public to pick up a small portion of the agencies' costs.
Levdansky said his bill would provide about $10 million a year for the Game Commission and $5 million a year for the Fish and Boat Commission based on last year's total sales tax revenue. He noted those figures would likely rise in future years as the state's economy expands.
Regardless of how you feel about Levdansky's choice of funding methods, it's hard to deny that Pennsylvania's wildlife agencies need more funding. Both commissions operate on extremely tight budgets, and if you spend any time dealing with conservation officers, biologists, game lands maintenance workers and other field employees, you quickly realize these dedicated people are much more motivated by their love of nature than their paychecks.
It will be interesting to see what kind of traction House Bill 1676 gains in the General Assembly when lawmakers return from summer recess.  

--Last edited by Dr Trout on 2007-07-11 13:01:15 --

Thanks Penn....

Just another typo on my part

It's there now