The Pennsylvania Game Commission is the state agency responsible for wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

 conservation

Conservation ethic

Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...

 and management in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was founded over 100 years ago and has more than 700 employees.

Mission and duties

The mission of the Pennsylvania Game Commission is:

• To manage and protect wildlife
• To manage wildlife habitat
• To inform and educate the public on wildlife and safe hunting practices

The duties of the Pennsylvania Game Commission include:

• Set hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits
• Issuing hunting and fur taking licenses
• Conduct tests for wildlife disease
• Pheasant release
• Animal Reintroduction

Conservation Officer - Specific Duties
Specific job duties for a Conservation Officer may include investigating complaints or working with schools, communities and service groups to promote environmental conservation and compliance with laws. Conservation Officers may be required to teach courses in boating, bow hunting, trapping and snowmobiling along with hunter education. They may be involved with inspecting falconers, wildlife rehabilitators, bait dealer, taxidermists and gamer breeders. Other job duties may include:

Documenting state and federal misdemeanors, felonies and other violations of environmental conservation laws.
Implementing plans to find violations.
Processing violators and evidence and submitting reports.
Conducting audits of commercial operations to ensure environmental compliance.
Communicating environmental conservation goals to the public and media.
Conducting safety courses for recreational vehicles, such as snowmobiles or off-road vehicles.
Maintaining relationships with outside law enforcement agencies.
Working with hunters and anglers to ensure conservation laws are being followed.
Patrolling assigned areas to ensure there are no violations occurring.
Checking hunters and anglers for correct licensing.
Subscribe to RSS feed for Public Safety and Law

Wildlife Conservation Officers

The main workforce of the Pennsylvania Game Commission are Wildlife Conservation Officer

Game warden

A game warden is an employee who has the role of protecting wildlife. Game wardens may also be referred to as conservation officers or wildlife officers...

s, also known as WCOs. These men and women are trained at the Ross Leffler School of Conservation in Harrisburg. New recruiting classes are formed when positions open up, which is normally every 2nd or 3rd year. Classes are usually kept below 30 students.

Training is a 11-month training program in Law Enforcement, Natural Resource

Natural resource

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....

 Management, Wildlife Management, and other subjects. Students are paid $1,150.40 on a bi-weekly basis and are required to live in provided housing.

WCO's are the police for wildlife. They are there to enforce the hunting and trapping laws as well as many other laws. They patrol the Pennsylvania State Game Lands

Pennsylvania State Game Lands

The Pennsylvania State Game Lands are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hunting license monies.The Pennsylvania Game Commission runs a...

.
They teach hunter-trapper education courses as well as providing many other educational opportunities for the Pennsylvania public.

Pennsylvania Game News

• Pennsylvania Game News is the PGC's monthly publication, dealing with wildlife conservation and the financial & legislative functions of the Game Commission.
• Monthly Field Notes, written by WCOs and their deputies, are funny stories about happenings in the fields. They are a monthly favorite of many.

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 5 officers have died in the line of duty.

Officer	Date of Death	Details
Game Officer L. Seeley Houk	Friday, March 2, 1906	Gunfire
Game Protector Joseph McHugh	Sunday, November 7, 1915	Gunfire
Game Protector John B. Ross	Saturday, July 18, 1942	Drowned
Land Management Officer Woodrow E. Portzline	Wednesday, October 24, 1973	Heart attack
Wildlife Conservation Officer David Grove	Thursday, November 11, 2010	Gunfire