The eight members of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission issued a joint letter May 9 outlining their support for Growing Greener and asking sportsmen to join them in voting to adopt the bond referendum appearing on the May 17 primary election ballot.

Fellow Angler & Boaters:

On May 17, Pennsylvania voters will have the opportunity to approve the Growing Greener ballot measure that will improve the quality of life in the Commonwealth for generations to come. Voters will be asked to support selling up to $625 million in bonds to provide for the maintenance and protection of the environment, open space, farmland preservation, watershed protection, abandoned mine reclamation, acid mine drainage remediation and other environmental initiatives. As your Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners (PFBC), we support adoption of the Growing Greener ballot question.

Anglers and boaters know that their water and the quality of their recreation is the result of everything upstream. Protecting and enhancing open space, cleaning up mine waste, and improving water quality does have a positive impact on fishing, boating and other water-based recreational activities. Families living in regions pocketed with abandoned mines and mine runoff know the work that needs done to restore the lands and waters. Growing Greener funding dedicated to fishing and boating infrastructure would provide a direct benefit to anglers and boaters. Infrastructure such as dams, hatcheries and public access areas is the backbone of boating and fishing in Pennsylvania and contributes to the more than $2 billion of impact of fishing and boating on the economy of Pennsylvania.

The PFBC manages through state ownership, lease or easements 14 fish hatcheries, 62 public lakes and about 250 boating access areas. All of these properties and facilities are owned by the Commonwealth and managed by the PFBC. The 14 hatcheries provide fishing opportunities by stocking approximately 4 million adult catchable trout and more than 100 million juvenile fish, including warmwater/coolwater fish. These facilities have a backlog of $153 million in capitol improvement needs. The PFBC’s day-to-day operating funds from license sales and boat registrations will never be enough to serve as the basis for paying all the costs of major projects for hatcheries, dams, access areas and other properties – nor should they be.

The Growing Greener proposal offers the opportunity for the Commonwealth to reinvest in these state fish hatcheries, state dams and other fishing and boating infrastructure.

Therefore, we encourage all Pennsylvanians to join us in voting “yes” on May 17.

Signed,

Samuel Concilla, Erie (President)

Richard Czop, Collegeville (Vice-President)

Donald Anderson, Meyersdale

Ross Huhn, Saltsburg

Ted Keir, Athens

Paul Mahon, Clarks Green

Howard Pflugfelder, New Cumberland

William Sabatose, Brockport

5/6/2005