HARRISBURG, PA - Due to the continued effects of the global COVID-19 outbreak, the upcoming Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners meeting will be held only online.
This decision was made in accordance with strict guidelines enacted across the Commonwealth to protect human health and reduce the spread of the virus.
The online meeting will begin Monday, April 6 at 8:30 a.m. Much of that meeting will be dedicated to a discussion on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) as part of the development of a new CWD Response Plan, a draft of which was unveiled last year. Experts from many other states battling CWD are scheduled to offer online testimony for the board to consider.
The meeting will reconvene Tuesday, April 7 at 11 a.m. with the board picking up its prepared
agenda, which includes the 2020-21 hunting seasons and bag limits and antlerless license allocation.
Because this meeting is being held only online, the process for accepting public comment is different than usual. Comments can be emailed to pgccomments@pa.gov. Those who, in recent months, have already emailed comments about policy matters and agenda items do not need to do so again; those comments have been forwarded to the board.
People also may submit recorded comments by phone by
pre-registering online to receive a call from the Game Commission on Friday, April 3, between 8 a.m. 11 a.m. to have their comments, up to five minutes in length, recorded.
The calls will be placed on a first-to-register, first-to-be-called basis until 11 am. If you pre-register and do not get a call from the Pennsylvania Game Commission during this three-hour window, please email your comments to pgccomments@pa.gov.
All submitted public comments will be sent to the board to be read and heard before the start of the April 7 meeting.
To pre-register to speak, go to
www.pgc.pa.gov, place your cursor on the Information and Resources tab and select “Upcoming Events,” then click on the link in item No. 2 under the board meeting event.
In the coming days, the Game Commission will announce more details on where and how the meeting can be viewed or listened to in real time. The announcement will be made by news release, emails and posts on the agency’s social media pages and website. If you would like to receive emails from the Game Commission, register your email here:
https://expressforms.pa.gov/apps/pa/pgc/email-subscription.
The Game Commission thanks the public for its understanding and support. The commissioners and staff look forward to hearing from hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts through this adopted format. While the agency’s No. 1 concern, at this time, is protecting human health, it remains as committed and as passionate as ever to managing Pennsylvania’s wild birds, wild mammals, and their habitats for current and future generations.
MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau - 717-705-6541
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