Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 19

tion growth. Today, Pennsylvania’s elk
population numbers between 850 and
900 animals, a substantial rise from
1936’s 14.
In 2000, the General Assembly and
Gov. Tom Ridge enacted Act 111,
which created an elk hunting license,
and fees and procedures for applying for
the special permit. Following a series of
open houses throughout Pennsylvania
to collect public opinion about holding an elk hunt, the Board of Game
Commissioners in April 2001 adopted
a proposal to hold an elk hunt later
that year. More than 50,000 individuals submitted applications to be part of
Pennsylvania’s first elk hunt in more
than 70 years; 30 were selected for licenses; 27 shot elk. Pennsylvania’s elk
hunt has continued every year since
2001, annually drawing about 20,000
applicants for the elk licenses made
available.
Other key elk management initiatives in recent years, spearheaded by
Jon DeBerti, former Game Commission
elk biologist and regional habitat management staff, included establishing a
new elk range Food & Cover Corps
team focused on creating and maintaining elk foraging habitat; increasing efforts to acquire private property
and improve habitat on the elk range
through partnering; and expanding elk

education and outreach efforts through
agency programs and the Elk Country
Visitor Center.
Since Pennsylvania’s twenty-first
century hunts began, millions of dollars
have been raised to support elk conservation, and hundreds of hunters have
had the unique opportunity to hunt elk
in Pennsylvania. Several of these hunters also have taken record-book elk.
None of this would have been possible
without the vision of Joseph Kalbfus
and a supporting Board of Game Commissioners, without the dedication
of Game Commission and Bureau of
Forestry employees over time to shelter
this resource from harm, and without
the support and resolve of partners to
help the agency keep Pennsylvania elk
from slipping into the abyss that had
claimed the species about 150 years
ago. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation alone has contributed millions of
dollars since 1990 to help our elk.
That our elk have managed to beat
all odds — and some pretty terrific ones
at that — since their reintroduction in
1913 is an amazing and gratifying conservation story rivaling that of the bald
eagle and wild turkey in Pennsylvania.
Their rollercoaster ride to recovery was
anything but orderly or expected. But
they made it, and Pennsylvania is better for it.

Cover Photo by John regester
THIRTY YEARS AND GOING STRONG — This year marks the 30th anniversary of bald eagle restoration in the state. “In 1983, when the Game Commission’s bald eagle reintroduction started, there probably wasn’t more
than a handful of people who thought these symbolic birds had a chance
to repopulate our Commonwealth. Now, in the not too distant future, it
would appear the bald eagle will be removed from the ranks of Pennsylvania
threatened species,” Joe Kosack writes. Be sure to read his informative article
on page 26.
JULY 2013

Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013

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