And the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is in a similar bind. In 1990 there were 1,015,134 resident licenses sold but in 2007, that figure had fallen to 739,314. Still, according to recent research, even this smaller number of boaters and anglers represents nearly a $1.8 billion a year industry for Pennsylvania and that extrapolates into another $100 million in tax revenue.

For the agencies constitutionally struck with the responsibility of “protecting and preserving” the fish and wildlife resources of the Commonwealth, this must seem like the ultimate insult. Despite their enormous ($5.3 billion a year) contribution to the economy of Pennsylvania , these agencies can’t survive on license sales alone and yet are unable to tap into the $300 million tax windfall they create for the Commonwealth.

Enter Representative David Levdansky (D-Allegheny) and House Bill 1676 which earmarks a tiny percentage of our general tax dollars to help finance the day-to-day operations of the Commissions. For many people, both inside and outside the Commissions, this sounds like a logical solution. As Mike Schmit, the Deputy Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said, “The alternative source of revenue provided for in HB 1676 would provide the Game Commission [and the Fish and Boat Commission, of course] with a new, reliable long-term source of revenue, something absolutely vital if the Commission is to fulfill this state constitutional mandate.”

Injecting – even a tiny percentage of - general tax dollars in the day-to-day operations of the Commissions, however, raises the specter of the “Golden Rule,” i.e., them what’s got the gold makes the rules. Consequently, despite the fact that several well known outdoor writers and at least two state-wide sportsmen’s organizations (The United Bowhunters and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs) have made a strong and seemingly logical argument for Representative Levdansky’s bill, it just doesn’t make sense. Despite declining license sales, there’s no reason for our fish and wildlife agencies to go hat in hand to the taxpayer.

In 1920, the Pennsylvania Game Commission began acquiring State Game Lands that today total 1.4 million acres on some 300 tracts of land in every county in the Commonwealth with the exception of Delaware and Philadelphia counties. Importantly, the Commission owns not only the surface rights to this property but the timber and mineral rights as well.

Although no figures are available for the value of the timber and mineral rights, with the current price of natural gas and oil, royalties alone should be worth tens of millions of dollars a year ad infinitum. Throw in an “Evergreen Clause” (tying royalty payments to current market price) and the Pennsylvania Game Commission should be the wealthiest independent agency in the Commonwealth regardless of declining license sales.

As evidenced by the non-hunting “Stakeholders” (specifically, the Pennsylvania Audubon and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources … ah, but I repeat myself) that have held sway over the deer management program, it might be logically argued that it has been a long time since the Pennsylvania Game Commission has been a truly “independent” agency. Still, unlike nearly every other state, neither the Game Commission nor the Fish and Boat Commission has ever gone to their legislators for financial assistance. And they shouldn’t be doing so now.

If it was impossible to deny utopian minded environmentalists (i.e., Audubon and the DCNR) from taking a seat at the deer management table while the agency was – supposedly – “independent,” what happens when the Commissions have tax dollars in their kitty? How many more seats will the environmentalists get then? And who will control the mineral rights under those 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands?

Given the Audubon’s collusion with other, more radical, environmental organizations (like the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation) that are working under the radar to shut down coal, gas and oil extraction on public lands out west, the sportsmen of Pennsylvania would have to be either blind or stupid to not be suspicious of HB 1676.

Subsidizing the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission with general tax dollars may be – as Mike Schmit said – a “new, reliable long-term source of revenue” but the IOU incurred would obligate Pennsylvania ’s fish and wildlife to individuals and organizations whose objectives are incompatible with license buyers.

For over one hundred years, Pennsylvania’s hunters and anglers have paid the bills for the restoration and preservation of fish and wildlife and that includes over 500 species of wildlife (birds, mammals, fish and amphibians) not listed in the rule book as “game.” The environmental community has no such track record. And once they get their foot in the door, it will take more than an act of congress (or another House Bill) to remove them.

Pennsylvania ’s hunters and anglers would be well advised to find a copy of Homer’s book, the Iliad and read how the Greeks defeated the Trojans by leaving a large wooden horse at the gates of Troy . If we do not study history, we are bound to repeat it.

John Street is an inquisitive contrarian who writes, frequently with humor, about current events in fish and wildlife research as well as the ethical and societal issues that affect the outdoor life. He can be contacted at johnstreet@windstream.net