There is a great story floating around Harrisburg. It goes back a few years to a high-level multi-agency meeting about forest management and deer hunting. DCNR Secretary Mike DiBernardinis was in attendance and allegedly made a profound statement. When questioned about the lack of deer on State Forests Lands the Secretary responded, “Why should we care about deer hunting, we don’t make any money from it.” I can’t remember my source on this one, but it doesn’t really matter. The reality is DCNR doesn’t make a nickel from deer hunters utilizing State Forest Lands.

A few years ago I took a 20-hour ride and deer hunted the great state of Wisconsin. I hunted public land. There was a big sign at the entrance of the forest. It told the history of the forest and concluded with the declaration that 35 percent of the timber revenue from the forest is channeled back to the county. I couldn’t wait to get home and write the story. A few weeks later I did peck out the story. Most of you should be familiar with the revenue sharing policies of our national forests. Twenty-five percent of the revenue generated from timbering on federal land (after expenses) is channeled back to the counties where the forest exists. This is 100-year old federal legislation that has helped finance rural schools and reduces property taxes in rural communities across the country.

The premise is quite simple. Since government owns the land, which prevents development and economic growth within the area, the federal government shares the revenue from the land. What I am saying is that it is time for our state legislature to pass legislation establishing procedures similar to our federal laws and share the resource extraction revenue from our state land with rural counties and communities. In my previous column I selected 25 percent from DCNR lands and 10 percent from State Game Lands as a fair amount to be shared with the locals. This should include all resource extraction dollars generated from coal, oil, gas and timbering. Our legislators continuously talk of property tax relief. Here is their opportunity to provide such relief.

An added benefit to this arrangement is local citizen involvement into our rural land management policies. Land management, resource extraction, wildlife management are always filthy with agency politics. Sharing the revenue will attract the caring eyes of the locals, the people who live in our rural counties and communities. These are the people who have to live with the appearance of a clear cut, oil rigs and strip mines. Who better to be involved in these decisions than local residents? Who knows more about forest management and deer (another major source of rural revenue) than those who live in and with the forest?

Last year DCNR and the PGC generated more than $50 million from timber cutting on our state holdings. What did they do with the revenue? Actually, they fed the bureaucracies that put forth the ridiculous policies, which no one seems to agree with. Think about that. They fed the bureaucracies that continue to eradicate our deer herd and continue to buy land and destroy the rural tax base. Frankly, we are long overdue for Citizen Task Forces for wildlife management and resource extraction. The revenue sharing will certainly cover any nominal costs of establishing local control of these critical management decisions.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for you to express your opinion with your legislators than right now. Read the papers and watch the news. Resource extraction or shall we say profit-taking is cranking up. The state needs the money. Ironically, the environmental community is about to get slapped. For years land conservancies and environmentalists worked hard to donate land to DCNR with the belief it would be protected for all posterity. This was quite amusing. DCNR is about to hit our lands hard with the Indiana bat and woods rat the least of their concern.

Getting back to the lack of any revenue from deer hunting going to DCNR, I have one last counterpoint. DCNR has beaten us to death with their demand for regeneration and another unnatural hardwood forest. Our sporting class, the public and our rural, timbered counties do not make one nickel from timbering.

Obviously, it is time for us to ask DCNR, “Why should we care?”