Pennsylvania Mixed Bag: PGC to hold junior game warden camps

Harrisburg — The Game Commission is holding five one-day Junior Game Warden Camps across the commonwealth in June and July, providing attendees a structured, fun-filled day learning about the career of a state game warden.

Campers, ages 12 to 15, will spend the day with wardens, gaining insight into the job and the commission’s mission of managing and protecting the state’s wildlife and habitats while promoting hunting and trapping.

Campers will learn about wildlife forensics and methods used by wardens to catch poachers and solve wildlife-related crimes. Other activities will involve wildlife-capture techniques, woodland tracking and outdoor survival.

Registration is limited to those who have not attended a camp held previously. Register online at www.pgc.pa.gov.

Maryland Striped Bass Season Began May 16

Annapolis, Md. — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced regulations for the summer striped bass fishing season that continue existing conservation measures put in place to protect the striped bass fishery on the East Coast.

Striped bass season in the mainstem of the Chesapeake Bay will be open May 16; the remainder of bay waters, including its tidal tributaries will open June 1 through July 15. All areas of the bay will be closed to any targeting of striped bass from July 16 through July 31, and will reopen Aug.1 through Dec. 10.

Anglers may keep one striped bass per person, per day, with a minimum length of 19 inches and a maximum length of 24 inches.

MORE COVERAGE FROM PENNSYLVANIA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Still no arrests in case of embedded fishhooks found in dog treats planted on Pennsylvania game land

Three bills pass Pennsylvania House panel, but reps focus on issues within PGC

Try these three trout gems of Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier during the late spring

DCNR Inks Lease With Wildflower Preserve

​New Hope, Pa. — Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn recently visited Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve to celebrate a new management agreement for the preserve in Bucks County that is a part of Washington Crossing Historic Park.

The lease agreement allows Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve Association Inc. to continue to operate and improve the 134-acre preserve for the next 35 years under public ownership.

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve is the only accredited museum in the country dedicated solely to native plants, all growing in sustainable, recognized plant communities. Among the preserve’s plants are approximately 60 species that are classified as either rare, threatened, or endangered.

Skull Found by Conemaugh River Angler 

Johnstown, Pa. — An active death investigation is underway after a human skull was found May 16 by a man fishing the Little Conemaugh River in Cambria County, authorities said.

The skull was found in a remote area of Conemaugh Township, Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees told a news reporter. He said a man fishing in the area noticed what he thought was a skull and called 911.

Lees said he is working with forensic anthropologist Dennis Dirkmaat, from Mercyhurst University in Erie, and Michael Rice, a forensic dentist in Westmont, Pa., in an effort to identify the skull.

State’s Third Annual Native Species Day

​Franklin Township, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Governor’s Invasive Species Council highlighted the importance of protecting native plants, insects, and animals during the third annual Pennsylvania Native Species Day May 16 at Big Elk Creek State Park in Chester County.

The Department of Agriculture-led advisory council brings state agencies, local governments and environmental organizations together to make recommendations and spearhead strategies to tackle invasive species threats to the economy and environment and promote benefits of nurturing native plant and animals.

Healthy native ecosystems provide numerous benefits, including clean water, diverse recreation opportunities, and a thriving economy, according to the council. Invasive species, lacking natural predators, disrupt these ecosystems and harm native wildlife.

Centre Co. Youth Drowns in Raystown Lake

Huntingdon, Pa. — A Bellefonte Area High School student drowned May 18 in Raystown Lake. Nathan Dan, 16, was swimming in the Huntingdon County impoundment.

According to state police at Huntingdon, emergency responders were dispatched at about 5:15 p.m. when the teen went underwater while swimming near Susquehannock Road in Penn Township and did not resurface.

He was found dead after a search involving state police, Marklesburg and Smithfield fire companies, the state Fish & Boat Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Huntingdon County Coroner’s Office.