“TAKING” NORTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA IS BREAKING THE STATE

It never seems to end, does it? The Rendell Administration, under the banner of the PA Wilds Project has targeted 12 counties in North Central Pennsylvania ( Clinton, Tioga, Lycoming, Cameron, Potter, McKean, Elk, Clearfield, Jefferson , Warren, Forest and Clarion ) as the PA Wilds Area. They have been making radical changes that are the cause of residents moving out of the area, the economy is collapsing in some areas, businesses including motels are closing---in short, the rural character of the entire PA Wilds Area is destined for radical change-like it or not! The Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) stated at the 9-13-07 Conference of PA Wilds held in Williamsport that all private land must come under public ownership because lands are better managed in public hands than in private ownership.

The mainstay of past economic prosperity in the PA Wilds Area has largely resided in deer hunting, camp ownership, grocery shopping and the many outdoor amenities that attracted Pennsylvania’s hunting community to frequently visit North Central Pennsylvania throughout the year. In doing so they spent lots of money which maintained a healthy business climate in the area. DCNR and the PA Game Commission (PGC) has changed the role that was once the Hunting Capitol of Pennsylvania by allowing the slaughter of the Whitetail deer to the point that huntable populations are too difficult to find and many sportsmen have abandoned the area. The economic hardship for many businesses has become so dire that some towns are in a virtual state of collapse.

DCNR and the PGC have laid plans to establish “Monument Designation” for the 12 county area….one that is vacant of people and instead honors elk and tourism. It isn’t entirely a DCNR/PGC issue either. Much of what has happened in the past ten years began under the Ridge Administration assisted by environmental activists who want a “Monument” dedicated to wilderness which is untouched by human hands and private ownership. Scientific wildlife management practices and hunting will no longer form the hub of lifestyles for current residents.

In November 2007, The Pa Wilds Planning Team met in secrecy to map strategy for future development of the Wilds Region. Seven teams made up of business owners, planners, public officials and non-government organizations from counties in the Pa Wilds region mapped their goals and action plans. The Master Plan is to create “GREEN COMMUNITIES” throughout the region. The Plan systematically will further harm local economies by eliminating hunting and fishing which for over a hundred years has been the number one recreational income producer for the Wilds Region. The responsibility of DCNR to manage the future of communities and their residents through Monument Designation and Green Communities is self-serving and destructive of traditional values.

DCNR and the Planning Team fail to face up to the already collapsing economy of the region due to the decrease in revenues provided by recreational hunting. Pa Wilds residents have strong virtues of individualism and independence, besides a strong distrust of big government….they are a citizenry that forms the bedrock of Pennsylvania’s self-sufficient most RURAL FRONTIER.

It is amazing how fast things are taking shape here in our State’s own pristine rural frontier that is right in line with the transfer of democracy into a totalitarian socialist state. Even a non-elected “Multi-Community Main Street Manager” will be hired to dictate the rules that “Green Communities” must adhere to.

N. Charles Bolgiano, PhD
Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania
February 11, 2008