State game land acreage tops 1.5 million acres
State game lands are one of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s two best assets.
The second, according to commission Executive Director Matthew Hough, is commission employees, including those who maintain and create habitat for wildlife in the game lands.
A recent addition of more than 2,100 acres to game lands 195 in Jefferson County was a milestone marking an increase in the statewide total land area to 1.5 million acres of game lands, which are scattered in 307 tracts of land in every county except Philadelphia and Delaware counties.
The acquitition also draws attention to the commission’s food and cover workers who carry out the agency’s mission to manage game lands for hunting, trapping and wildlife management. Their work is often taken for granted and sometimes goes unnoticed.
“Most hunters probably don’t realize the amount of work they do,” Hough said.
A staff of seven food and cover workers does that work on more than 36,500 acres of game lands scattered across Fayette and Greene counties under the direction of Steve Leiendecker, the commission’s land management supervisor for the two counties.
“The work of the food and cover crew throughout the state is likely the greatest story not told,” Leiendecker said. “The average hunter probably isn’t aware of all the work that goes into game lands maintenance and improving habitat for wildlife.”
A crew of four works in the six game lands in Fayette County that have a combined 22,442 acres and a crew of three works in the three game lands in Greene County that have a combined 13,971 acres.
Their year-around work starts in the spring when they plant sorghum, corn, clover and brassica, which deer and other animals eat, in food plots known as herbaceous openings.
Corn and clover are planted together so the corn grows and ripens in the summer and the clover grows in the fall. Those plots are fertilized and given lime the following year to help the clover grow again, Leiendecker said.
Clover is a good source of protein that helps deer antlers grow, he said, adding that food plots also attract insects that turkeys eat.
Brassica grows during the summer and ripens in the fall and winter wheat is planted in some plots to provide a winter food source, Leiendecker said.
Some herbaceous openings are lush fields of native grasses and other plants that provide food and cover. Food plants also draw insects that turkeys eat.
“A good field for hunting purposes is waist deep in golden rod. I grew up rabbit hunting and those fields are best for rabbits and pheasants,” Leiendecker said.
Those fields are cut once every three years to promote the growth of the native plants and prevent the fields from reverting to forest land, but the edges of the fields are cut every year to control tree growth, he said.
“We have basically the same implements a farmer would have,” Leiendecker said.
That equipment is also used for habitat improvement work such as making border edge cuts around fields. All trees except apple trees and mast producing trees such as oaks are cut in the winter and left to lay on the ground to create a soft edge border between mature trees around the fields and the fields, and promote regeneration, he said.
“We found that wildlife reacts to that. As soon as we cut, deer eat the buds off the trees we cut. It seems like those deer are smelling those buds as soon as they hit the ground,” Leiendecker said.
Winter work includes repainting game lands boundary markers on trees once every five years. Those boundary marks fade due to weather and tree growth.
“They have to get around the border every five years or we loose the boundary line,” Leiendecker said.
The workers plant trees in areas that were logged to improve the habitat as the are regenerates, he said.
In addition, food and cover workers maintain all the gates, roads, parking areas and shooting ranges in the game lands.
Plans are in the works for the crew to conduct a prescribed burn in game lands 111 along the Fayette-Somerset county border to promote the growth of native warm season grasses, he said.
Within the last five years, game lands 223 in Greene County, game lands 265 in Henry Clay Township, game lands 51 in Dunbar Township and game lands 238 in German Township have had additions of about 100 acres each, Leiendecker said.
The energy industry gives the commission land and pays rent in exchange for building pipelines or gas wells on game lands, but the agency has all the land it can manage with it the current complement of employees, Hough said.
“We probably exceeded what we can manage with the staff that we have,” he said.
Hunting and conservation organization such as the Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Foundation also provide grants and volunteers to help with habitat project, Hough said.
Game lands and the 2.2 million acres of state park and forest land, most of which is open to public hunting, provide ample opportunities for hunters and trappers, he said.
“Pennsylvanians are very fortunate,” Hough said.
Leiendecker said he encourages hunters and trappers who have suggestions or concerns about game land habitat and maintenance or want to volunteer for some work to contact him through the commission’s regional office at 724-238-9523.