Mark Nale, Author at Outdoor News

Mark Nale: Pennsylvania game commissioners got it right on doe license allocations

Blogs, Featured, Hunting, National Hunting, Opinion, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

At their April 2023 meeting, the Board of Game Commissioners made the right move toward better scientific management of Pennsylvania’s deer herd. They shocked some hunters by not interfering with the antlerless license allocations put forth by Game Commission biologists.
Past practice was for commissioners to field “there-are-no-deer” complaints from hunters and then to ask for reduced allocations for wildlife management units within their district. This brought hunters into the equation, but it wasn’t good for wildlife management. Have you ever met a deer hunter who said that there were too many deer?

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Pennsylvania citizens pack Department of Environmental Protection hearing for Huntingdon wetland

Featured, National News, Nature Page & Night Sky, News, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

More than 75 people attended the May 3 hearing that could decide the fate of the popular Old Crow Wetland in Huntingdon County.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection held the hearing to gather testimony regarding the discharge of stormwater from a proposed Rutter’s truck stop/gas station/convenience store on the outskirts of Huntingdon.

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Pennsylvania study shows many more of state’s elk calves die than previously thought

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, National News, News, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

A three-year study that was recently completed shows that elk calves in Pennsylvania survive at a much lower rate than previously thought. This new discovery likely will affect future elk management decisions.
The research was the work of former elk biologist aide Avery Corondi, now in a master’s degree program at Penn State. It was done in cooperation with and fully funded by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

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Two large fish habitat projects finished at Sayers Lake in Pennsylvania

Featured, Fishing, National Fishing, National News, News, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

Two large fish habitat projects were completed during the winter drawdown at Sayers Lake in Bald Eagle State Park, Centre County. Anglers will reap rewards for years to come.
Sayers Dam, an Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control facility, is drawn down 20 feet every winter so that it can retain more water if a flood should hit the area due to snowmelt or heavy spring rains.
The dam is being slowly refilled now and should be at summer level by the end of May.

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Sycamore trees are Pennsylvania’s streamside sentinels

Featured, Nature Page & Night Sky, News, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

Sycamore trees stand like tall sentinels lining sections of Penns, Spring and Bald Eagle creeks – protecting their banks from erosion, shading the stream and providing cover for wild brown trout.
In fact, from the Ohio to the Delaware, stately sycamores guard all of Pennsylvania’s rivers and larger streams. Sycamores have been protecting streams for a long time. Fossil records indicate that they are a very old genus, once having been more geographically widespread than they are today.

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Hundreds of Pennsylvania volunteers finish winter raptor survey

Featured, Nature Page & Night Sky, News, Pennsylvania / Mark Nale

During more than 20 years of doing the survey, we have documented the explosion of bald eagles, an increase in the number of wintering red-shouldered hawks and the expansion of black vultures north and west from the southeastern counties, survey organizer Greg Grove noted.

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