Its decision day for the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s proposed user fee for cyclists, snowmobile users, and equestrians. We oppose it, and this is the email we set today.
Dear Commissioners;
I oppose a user fee, for the following reasons:
1) The State Game Lands have traditionally not charged a fee to non-hunters, both to keep the public opinion of hunting high and to thank the many individuals and conservancies that have donated land to the Game Commission over the years. Charging a fee endangers the first and violates the trust of the second.
2) The Game Commission couldn’t locate a bear with a bucket on its head despite knowing its general location for more than a month. Officers are now going to be asked to enforce the user fees in an area twice the size of Rhode Island. Its not going to work, and it puts the Game Commission in the job of chasing bicyclists instead of poachers.
3) Non-hunters are going to assume that if you collect a fee from them you will listen to them. You don’t know difficult until you’ve had to deal with a mountain bike association.
See also my editorial at http://atasteforthewoods.com/?p=2386
Cordially, Neil Brennen