The members of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission are divided over one question: which might save the lives of more boaters, legislation or education?
Board members were asked to consider a proposal that would have required canoers, kayakers and those in boats less than 16 feet in length to wear an approved life jacket between Oct. 1 and the Friday before Memorial Day.
Five of the 10 board members - Rozell Stidd, Ross Huhn, Paul Mahon, Bill Sabatose, and Don Anderson - supported the proposal. The other five did not, however, in effect killing the idea.
Under existing regulations, canoers, kayakers and small boaters are required to carry one personal flotation device for each person in the craft. They do not have to wear the life jacket while on the water.
There are exceptions to that rule. Children 12 and younger must wear a life jacket when in such boats, and children and adults must wear them when boating on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes.
Peter Colangelo, the PF&BC's executive director, in January suggested expanding those requirements to all boaters on all waters as a life-saving measure.
There are statistics suggesting canoers and kayakers are particularly vulnerable during fall and winter, said John Simmons, director of the PF&BC's bureau of boating and education.
There were 114 boating fatalities in Pennsylvania between 1993 and 2002, 49 of them in the cold weather months between Oct. 1 and Memorial Day weekend.
Of those, 40 - or about 80 percent - involved canoes, kayaks or boats less than 16 feet long.
"(Colangelo's) feeling was that if those people had been wearing life jackets, they might have survived," Simmons said.
Those PF&BC board members who argued against adopting the regulation noted that it would be difficult to enforce because waterways conservation officers spend comparatively little time on the water in the fall and winter.
More than that, though, commissioners said that boaters have to take some responsibility for their own safety at some point, Simmons said.
"Their feeling was that we need to continue to educate people about boating safety, rather than just make new law," Simmons said.
Small game
All those hunters who wonder where the small game has gone need only look around to find their answer, according to Tom Hardisky, a biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission's farmland section.
Pennsylvania, which was made up of regenerating forests and small farms a few decades ago, is now covered by much more mature forest, he said. As a result, populations of forest-dwelling species are booming, while those that rely on more open cover are not.
"It just goes to show, habitat is the key," Hardisky said. "Squirrels are everywhere, but pheasants, quail and rabbits are all suffering because of a lack of habitat.
"Predators are a factor, but they are far from the main one."
Even the seasons and bag limits in place now do little to impact small game populations one way or another, he said.
That's one of the reasons Hardisky recommended moving the opening day for rabbits and pheasants up by two weeks this fall, to Oct. 18. That will give hunters more opportunity to hunt, without impacting game populations, he said.
An earlier opening day will also save the PGC money in regards to its pheasant stocking program. Right now, the PGC holds pheasants on its game farms for 26 weeks.
As ring-necked pheasants mature, though, they become aggressive and cannibalistic. Between 18 and 22 weeks of age, male pheasant mortality increases by 50 percent.
Stocking the birds sooner, before they have a chance to kill one another, will save the PGC money and put more birds out for hunters, Hardisky said.
Bear numbers
Hunters aren't the only thing Pennsylvania's black bears have to worry about.
Once again, vehicles claimed their share of bears in 2002. According to PGC statistics, 264 bears died in collisions with vehicles across the state last year, with 47 different counties having at least one bear fatality.
Only counties on the periphery of the bear range - places like Greene, Washington, Allegheny, Beaver, Erie, and Lawrence counties - didn't see any bears killed by cars.
If there's any good news, it's that the number of road-killed bears actually dropped in comparison to 2001. In that year, 338 bears fell victims to vehicles.
PGC-tagged bears were certainly not immune to accidents. Wildlife conservation officers and other PGC staff captured and tagged a record 597 bears last year, some more than once.
Not all of them survived long enough to be chased by hunters.
"Thirty-three of those bears died before the season, mostly in collisions with vehicles," said Mark Ternent, the PGC's black bear biologist.
The state bear population was estimated at 15,000 animals prior to the 2002 hunting season.
Contest winner
A Turtle Creek boy won the grand prize in the ninth annual River Sweep poster contest run by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.
Kenny Mason, a sixth-grader at St. Coleman School, will receive a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond for winning the contest. His poster will also be used to promote the 2003 River Sweep, an annual riverbank cleanup held along the Ohio River and its tributaries.
Two other area students took first place in their respective grade levels in the poster contest. Colleen Bucher, of Gastonville Elementary School in
Finleyville, won at the fourth-grade level, and Johannes Holdiman, of Western PA Cyber Charter in McKeesport, won at the kindergarten level.
There were more than 1,800 entries in the poster contest. The 2003 River Sweep will be held on June 21. For details, call Jeanne Ison at 513-231-7719 or 1-800-359-3977.
Campground directory
The Pennsylvania Campground Owners Association is offering free copies of its 52-page 2003 campground directory.
The directory divides the state into six regions, listing PCOA campgrounds in each. There are maps, as well as information like campground phone numbers, directions and listings of facilities.
For a copy of the directory, write PA Campground Owners Association, c/o Beverly Gruber, PO Box 5, New Tripoli, PA 18066. You can also call 1-888-660-7262 or e-mail lowhill@fast.net .
