Pennsylvania Game Commission
© Pennsylvania Game Commission Pennsylvania Game Commission
For more than 100 years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has managed the Commonwealth's wildlife resources for all Pennsylvanians. With the help of more than 700 full-time employees and thousands of part-timers and volunteers, the agency provides a host of benefits to wildlife, state residents and visitors.
Wildlife has always been an important part of Pennsylvania's cultural heritage. Every day, it touches the lives of countless Pennsylvanians and most of us consider it to be a state treasure.
In the late 1800s, however, wildlife was dwindling as a result of deforestation, pollution and unregulated hunting and trapping. From this dark period emerged the Game Commission, created by the state Legislature to protect and conserve wildlife, which was then commonly referred to as "game." The wildlife diversity we enjoy today is largely due to the agency's progressive, scientifically-based wildlife management programs and support from countless Pennsylvanians and outdoors organizations. It's a partnership that has accomplished much for wildlife since the turn of the century, and no doubt will continue.