THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY BAKER, PICKETT, CAUSER, STERN, BEYER, BOBACK, BOYD, EVERETT, FLECK, GEIST, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GOODMAN, HARHAI, HESS, KAUFFMAN, M. KELLER, LEVDANSKY, MARKOSEK, MILLARD, MOUL, MURT, PHILLIPS, PYLE, QUINN, RAPP, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROAE, ROHRER, STABACK AND VULAKOVICH, FEBRUARY 13, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, FEBRUARY 13, 2009  

AN ACT

Providing for recreational hunting on lands managed by the

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Hunting

Heritage Protection Act.

Section 2.  Findings.

The General Assembly finds as follows:

(1)  Recreational hunting is an important and traditional

recreational activity in which 14,000,000 Americans 16 years

of age and older participate.

(2)  Hunters have been and continue to be among the

foremost supporters of sound wildlife management and

conservation practices in the United States.

(3)  Persons who hunt, and organizations related to

hunting, provide direct assistance to wildlife managers and

enforcement officers of Federal, State and local governments.

(4)  Purchases of hunting licenses, permits and stamps

and payment of excise taxes on goods used by hunters have

generated billions of dollars for wildlife conservation,

research and management.

(5)  Recreational hunting is an essential component of

effective wildlife management, in that it is an important

tool for reducing conflicts between people and wildlife and

provides incentives for the conservation of wildlife,

habitats and ecosystems on which wildlife depend.

(6)  Recreational hunting is an environmentally

acceptable activity that occurs and can be provided for on

department-managed lands without adverse effects on other

uses of that land.

Section 3.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Department."  The Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources of the Commonwealth.

"Department-managed lands."  Those lands that the Department

of Conservation and Natural Resources owns or those lands over

which the department holds management authority.

"Hunting."  The term shall have the same meaning given to it

under 34 Pa.C.S. § 102 (relating to definitions).

"Secretary."  The Secretary of Conservation and Natural

Resources of the Commonwealth.

Section 4.  Recreational hunting.

(a)  General rule.--Subject to valid existing rights,

department-managed lands shall be open to access and use for

recreational hunting except as limited by the department for

reasons of public safety, fish or wildlife management, homeland

security or as otherwise limited by law.

(b)  Department efforts.--The department shall exercise its

authority, consistent with subsection (a), in a manner to

support, promote and enhance recreational hunting opportunities,

to the extent authorized by State law. The department shall not

be required to give preference to hunting over other uses of

department-managed lands or over land or water management

priorities established by department regulations or State law.

(c)  Limitation on department efforts.--Department land

management decisions and actions may not, to the greatest

practical extent, result in any net loss of land acreage

available for hunting opportunities on department-managed lands

that exists on the effective date of this section.

(d)  Report to General Assembly.--By October 1 of each year,

the secretary shall submit to the General Assembly a written

report describing:

(1)  The acreage administered by the department that has

been closed during the previous year to recreational hunting

and the reasons for the closures.

(2)  The acreage administered by the department that, in

order to comply with subsection (c), was opened to

recreational hunting to compensate for acreage closed under

paragraph (1).

Section 20.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.