On Sunday, June 16, a presentation will be held at the Van Scott Nature Reserve in Beach Lake, on bird migration and research conducted in Northeast Pennsylvania.
David B. Soete.
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The 2023-24 deer seasons ended months ago, as did the busiest time for chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance.
CWD, a fatal neurological disease, is a threat to both white-tailed deer and elk and has been detected within the wild deer population in several areas of Pennsylvania.
While the most intense efforts revolve around Pennsylvania’s deer hunting seasons, monitoring for CWD is a year-round endeavor.
The CWD Surveillance Dashboard continues to be updated weekly and allows the public to view past and current information related to CWD, and for hunters who submitted their deer for testing to access the results online.
Since July 1, 2023, the Game Commission has collected nearly 11,000 CWD samples from deer. Hunter-harvested samples made up the bulk of those with over 7,000.
CWD was detected in a total of 291 of those hunter-harvested deer. To date, over 440 deer have tested positive for CWD in the 2023-2024 sampling year, up from 426 CWD-positive samples in 2022-23.
“CWD surveillance is crucial to managing the disease,” said agency CWD Section Supervisor Andrea Korman. “CWD is a serious threat to deer and elk. Knowing where the disease is allows us to focus our efforts to keep more deer from becoming infected.”
One of those efforts is using CWD Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) units to focus harvest and surveillance. For 2023-24, there were 10 specific CWD DMAP units across the state.
Hunters could purchase up to two additional antlerless permits to be used within these CWD DMAP areas. Increased surveillance and hunting pressure in these CWD DMAP Units is essential to keeping the healthy deer from being exposed to CWD.
In addition to CWD DMAP units, the Game Commission selected three areas last fall as Containment Zones (CZs). CZs are small areas — about a 1-mile radius, or the average size of a deer’s home range — around the location of a high priority CWD-positive deer.
Landowners and hunters within these smaller CZs are offered additional opportunities to harvest deer in an effort to remove those that may have come into contact with the infected deer. These opportunities include both special regulations and extended hunting seasons.
“The results of this year’s efforts around recent detections were encouraging,” said Korman. “Landowners and hunters were supportive and eager to help protect deer in their area. This increased sampling close to the detections found no new CWD-positive animals.”
As with previous years, most of the deer that tested positive for CWD in the 2023-24 hunting season came from DMA 2, located in south-central Pennsylvania, and were concentrated in the Established Area (EA) that covers portions of Bedford, Blair, Franklin, Fulton, and Huntingdon counties. This area, where CWD is considered to be established within the deer population, has produced nearly 90% of Pennsylvania’s CWD-positives since the disease first was detected here in 2012.
This is also where a CWD research study is taking place, specifically in Bedford and Fulton counties. This was the second year of the study and in total, crews captured and collared 95 deer.
“Based on the number of CWD-positive animals we continue to detect in this area, it’s clear that CWD is a persistent problem and will require long-term management,” Korman said.
CWD was also detected for the first time in Armstrong County and in two more deer on the east side of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County.
“Because of this continued increase and spread, we are extending the firearms season in some of the affected WMUs where harvest goals are not being met,” Korman said. “WMUs 4A, 4D, and 5A will have an extended antlerless-only rifle season in January to help slow the spread of disease.”
DCNR announces new manager
at Lackawanna State Park Complex
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn this week announced the appointment of Lee Dillon to serve as the manager for the Lackawanna State Park Complex in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
“Lee is a true professional with an understanding of how important public lands are to visitors, and he is a great fit for the Lackawanna complex,” Dunn said. “We are excited to have Lee and his passion for the outdoors leading the park into a new era.”
Dillon officially began overseeing operations in the park complex, which includes Archbald Pothole, Prompton, and Salt Springs state parks, in March. He noted that is eager to continue to develop the relationships with friends groups and the community around the parks within his complex to uplift those who visit and volunteer at the parks the most.
“I love the outdoors and have had the opportunity to work in parks all across Pennsylvania, which has helped me grasp the importance of this work,” Dillon said. “I am eager to connect with old and new visitors to the region, and look forward to my first summer at Lackawanna.”
Dillon holds a degree in park and recreation management from Butler Community College and a park and resource management degree from Slippery Rock University. Dillon spent the early part of his career working in the automotive industry prior to coming to DCNR.
Beginning his career in public service as a resource ranger at Presque Isle State Park, Dillon has worked at several state parks including Moraine, Sam Lewis, Mt. Pisgah and Tobyhanna. He noted that he applied for DCNR’s manager trainee program three times before being he was accepted and encouraged others to have that same persistence in following their passion.
Avian migration presentation at
Van Scott Nature Reserve June 16
On Sunday, June 16, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Delaware Highlands Conservancy’s Van Scott Nature Reserve in Beach Lake, PA, Dr. Robert Smith and Dr. Meg Hatch will present — “Stopover Ecology of Landbird Migrants: Why It’s Good to be Fat and Other Migratory Tales” — a presentation on avian migration and research conducted in Northeast Pennsylvania.
The program will hopefully include the temporary capture of live birds for attendees to see these migrants and residents up close.
Drs. Hatch and Smith are especially interested in the ecology of migratory birds. Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in Biology and is a Professor of Biology at the University of Scranton. Dr. Hatch earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in Biology and is an Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State Scranton.
Current projects include 1) habitat use, and particularly the fitness consequences of migrant landbirds using habitats dominated by exotic vegetation, 2) relationships between songbird migration ecology, ecoimmunology, avian blood parasites and feather mites, 3) intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing songbird arrival/passage timing, and 4) assessment of habitat use by fall migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls within Lackawanna State Park.
The event fee is $5 for Conservancy members and $10 for non-members. Kids under 12 are free. Advance registration is requested; register online at DelawareHighlands.org/events or call 570-226-3164 ext. 8.
The Delaware Highlands Conservancy works in partnership with landowners and communities to protect the natural heritage and quality of life of the Upper Delaware River region. For more information, call 570-226-3164/845-583-1010 or visit DelawareHighlands.org.
PFBC requesting applications for
Boating Infrastructure Grant Program
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is requesting proposals from interested parties seeking funding through the Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program.
BIG is a federal grant program administered in Pennsylvania by the PFBC in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This program provides grants for transient moorage (tie-ups) serving recreational motorboats 26 feet and longer.
BIG grants are economic engines for local communities that benefit traveling boaters by offering safe overnight dockage and easy access to towns and waterfronts. Grants may be made to public and private operators of open-to-the-public boating facilities, including municipal agencies (cities, townships, counties, etc.), state agencies, and other government entities.
The deadline for submitting proposals is July 31.
Eligible activities include the construction, renovation, and maintenance of transient tie-up facilities. Boating infrastructure refers to features that provide stopover places for transient non-trailerable recreational vessels to tie up. These features include transient slips, day docks, floating docks and fixed piers, navigational aids, and dockside utilities including electric, water, and pump-out stations.
The grant program will reimburse recipients for up to 75% of the costs for project design and engineering, development, expansion, and major rehabilitation. Successful applicants must agree to provide a minimum 25% grant match and be willing to enter into a long-term agreement to keep the facility open to the public for its useful life.
The program is a reimbursable grant program. Grant funds will be disbursed to the recipient only after the project sponsor certifies expenditures have been made. Grant funds are awarded under the Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program authorized by the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Act of 1998 and funded by excise taxes on motorboat fuel.