Let’s start with the Division of Fish and Wildlife. It is staffed with professional biologists who observe and study our state’s fish and wildlife. They are trained experts in habitat and population dynamics of all the state’s wildlife species, not just the "game" animals. They are under funded and understaffed but remain dedicated to our state’s wildlife. For the writer to infer otherwise is misleading and an injustice to the entire department. It would be wiser to put our trust in our state’s professional wildlife biologists rather than a political action committee member with an agenda!

Regarding hunters, I ask the writer to look around. We are doctors, lawyers, mail carriers, mothers, and fathers. We are your neighbors! All of us care greatly about our environment and wildlife control in this state and hunt not only for the sport but also for the meat to feed our families. Where as you prefer to ‘’hunt’’ in Shop Rite or A & P, I prefer the great outdoors. We harvest animals according to state law. We are not criminals as you suggest!

As for the bears, I would suggest that you keep more than a few feet from them. They are indeed beautiful animals, but certainly they can be dangerous and for you to state otherwise is misleading and wrong. They have killed numerous pets and farm animals in the northern bear country and I sincerely hope they do not injure or maim any child or unsuspecting person. In closing, hunters have been instrumental in conserving more wildlife and preserving more habitat than any other single group in this state. These are the facts.

John E Stankiewicz

Matawan, NJ

Subject: Fw:
Date: Monday, April 25, 2005 6:18 PM

-----Original Message-----
Subject:

Science Takes A Hit In Jersey

By canceling the state`s bear hunt, the New Jersey Supreme Court has placed residents at risk as bear numbers
continue to grow.

by Pete Angle, Assistant Editor

In a shocking and controversial judgment, the New Jersey State Supreme Court unanimously ruled in December
to annul the state`s black bear hunt.

Two weeks prior, a lower court had ordered the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue
permits for the hunt. According to the Appellate Court, Bradley M. Cambell, the present commissioner for the DEP,
overstepped his bounds when he ordered the Division of Fish and Wildlife to not issue permits and to close all
wildlife management land to bear hunting. Campbell`s impudent policy fueled lawsuits from hunting groups,
 sportsmen`s organizations and individuals who supported the bear hunt.

With the recent demands of the state Supreme Court, a black bear hunt cannot take place in any way until the
state ratifies a bear management strategy that is equally acceptable to both the Fish and Game Council and the
state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Division of Fish and Wildlife. The Fish and
Game Council is an independent unit empowered by the legislature to set hunting and fishing guidelines.

The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Commission had based its scientific approach to bear management on a 1997
plan. This plan created a successful bear season a year ago--a bear management proposal to which Campbell had
agreed.

Just one year later, Campbell changed his tune and decided that politics trumps science. Campbell began
challenging the scientific effort of his own biologists only after animal "rights" groups opposed last year`s hunt.
Instead of hunting as a management tool, Campbell now supports a costly and unsound contraceptive method in
tandem with a "public awareness" campaign.

The Fish and Game Council views Campbell`s philosophy as reckless and purely political. W. Scott Ellis, chairman
of the Fish and Game Council, insists that Campbell`s resistance is irresponsible, and, "If there is any damage or
injury caused by black bears in the state, Mr. Campbell is the sole person who should shoulder the responsibility,
because he is the reason bears will be around.

"You`ve taken 50 years of very successful wildlife management and turned it upside down, subjected it to the whims
of one political appointee," Ellis said. "It`s obvious that this commissioner is beholden to the whacko animal `rights`
crowd."

According to Campbell, the bear population stands around 1,600 animals, but other reports within state government
show almost twice that many. Last year, New Jersey hunters harvested 328 bears out of nearly 4,000 permits issued.

Ellis said authorization of the bear hunt was based on the scientific bear management plan adopted in 1997, which
was updated yearly with population reports from DEP biologists. These state biologists, working under Campbell`s
control, concluded that as many as 3,200 bears roamed the state last year.

"Hunts are only approved if they are supported by such biological research," Ellis reiterated.

In a similar situation, the state of Maryland held its first bear hunt in more than 50 years, despite pressure from
many of the same animal "rights" groups that were involved in the New Jersey situation. Maryland is the latest
East Coast "blue" state to grapple with the growing number of black bears, whose return was deemed an
 "environmental success" by animal "rights" supporters until the emerging bears became a nuisance.
Animal-protection advocates, who lobbied against a bear hunt for years in the legislature, lost in the courts.
Still, with protests and a noticeable population of anti-hunting residents, Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich trusted the
opinion of state scientists and allowed the hunt to proceed.

Maryland fashioned its hunt with conservative numbers and a lottery drawing for permits. It was a resounding
success, even though officials closed the season after just one day. Twenty bears were killed in the one-day hunt,
 the Department of Natural Resources confirmed. Originally, the state had scheduled the bear hunt for six days,
but dnr officials halted the hunt to avoid possibly exceeding the quota.

Paul Peditto, director of the Maryland Department of Wildlife and Heritage Service, said of the Maryland hunt,
"We stood by our promise to keep this conservative, even more so than the biological limits allowed. I consider
it an unqualified success."

Maryland`s bear hunt success in the field and in the courts, however, did not prove to be a model for New Jersey,
as it should have been. New Jersey bear hunt supporters were optimistic due to Maryland`s court decisions, as
well as some pressure from the federal government. During the New Jersey court proceedings, the hunter-friendly
 u.s. Department of Interior threatened to pull nearly $2 million in federal aid to the New Jersey Division of Fish and
 Wildlife if the hunt was stopped.

After the public announcement of the New Jersey Supreme Court`s decision, however, the Department of Interior
rescinded its warning. Now New Jersey will still get its share of taxpayer and hunter dollars. The verdict is still
out concerning whether that money will be used for sound wildlife management practices, or if one man`s
(Campbell`s) personal opinion and catering to anti-hunters will dictate just how the money will be distributed.

The prevalent concern of Garden State hunters and wildlife management officials is that animal "rights" groups
 will push for legislation placing a moratorium on bear hunting in New Jersey so that they will not have to review
the situation every year. That could bring an end to bear hunting in New Jersey--possibly forever.

PENNSYLVANIA DEER HERD  POSTED 4/26/05

From: "John Stankiewicz" To: "Lloyd Davis"

Subject: Fw:
Date: Monday, April 25, 2005 6:27 PM

Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 7:16 AM

       Aerial survey finds deer straining forests in some parts
      Wednesday, April 20, 2005

      By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

      An aerial survey of the state's voraciously troublesome deer herd shows that recent Pennsylvania Game
Commission policies have put the hunt back in hunting.

      But in some areas, high deer densities continue to keep wide swaths of Penns Woods from living up
to its name.

      The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources yesterday reported partial results of its
 first-ever attempt to count the deer herd.

      The survey shows few deer in areas where there is no forest regeneration, little food and sparse
habitat -- conditions created by dense deer populations.

      Much of the acreage surveyed so far is located in the northcentral sections of the state where deer density
has been so high for so long that forest regeneration has been stunted by the deer herd's feeding habits, and
 where the Game Commission's special hunting regulations over the last two years have allowed more deer to
 be killed.

      "We believe the Game Commission's efforts to bring the herd down are working, but more time is needed for
 hunters to use [special] permits to take additional deer on state forest lands to further reduce the herd," said DCNR
Secretary Michael DiBerardinis.

      DiBernardinis said that because of high deer densities in many state forests, tree regrowth isn't possible after
timber is cut unless fencing is installed to exclude deer that browse the young tree shoots to the ground. Enough
fencing has been installed by state foresters to stretch from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to Erie to Scranton and back
to Philadelphia.

      The night survey work performed by Idaho-based Vision Air Research is using wing-mounted infrared technology
to measure the heat signatures of individual deer from an altitude of 1,000 feet or lower.

      "In some areas, our flights show deer density far beyond what the Pennsylvania Game Commission deems
 suitable for available habitat," said Susan Bernatas, president of Vision Air.

      J. Merlin Benner, state wildlife biologist, said the survey results bear out anecdotes by many hunters who
complain about not seeing the numbers of deer that they used to in some traditional hunting areas.

      "The habitat in those areas has been degraded and it will take a long time to build back up to where it can
support bigger deer densities," Benner said. "How low the deer densities need to go to permit regeneration is a
question we hope to answer with research, but we haven't seen any recovered habitat going on outside the fences
for 100 years."

      The survey found the highest concentrations of deer in the Promised Land area of the Delaware State Forest in
Pike County, where more than 23 deer per square mile were counted. The second highest concentration was more
than 20 deer per square mile in the Denton Hill area of the Susquehannock State Forest in Potter County.

      The lowest concentrations reported are in the Cedar Run section of the Tioga State Forest, Tioga County, where
less than 10 deer per square mile were counted.

      Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross said the deer count data will enable the commission and DCNR
to craft hunting regulations that target the areas with the biggest herds.

      The data released yesterday covered 300,000 acres -- 30 percent of the total acreage being flown for the survey
and just 2 percent of the forested areas of the state.

      The survey flights began in mid-February. Bernatas said all of the flying and infrared film interpretation should
 be finished by early May. No aerial survey work has been done or is planned in southwestern Pennsylvania.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let’s start with the Division of Fish and Wildlife. It is staffed with professional biologists who observe and study our state’s fish and wildlife. They are trained experts in habitat and population dynamics of all the state’s wildlife species, not just the "game" animals. They are under funded and understaffed but remain dedicated to our state’s wildlife. For the writer to infer otherwise is misleading and an injustice to the entire department. It would be wiser to put our trust in our state’s professional wildlife biologists rather than a political action committee member with an agenda!

Regarding hunters, I ask the writer to look around. We are doctors, lawyers, mail carriers, mothers, and fathers. We are your neighbors! All of us care greatly about our environment and wildlife control in this state and hunt not only for the sport but also for the meat to feed our families. Where as you prefer to ‘’hunt’’ in Shop Rite or A & P, I prefer the great outdoors. We harvest animals according to state law. We are not criminals as you suggest!

As for the bears, I would suggest that you keep more than a few feet from them. They are indeed beautiful animals, but certainly they can be dangerous and for you to state otherwise is misleading and wrong. They have killed numerous pets and farm animals in the northern bear country and I sincerely hope they do not injure or maim any child or unsuspecting person. In closing, hunters have been instrumental in conserving more wildlife and preserving more habitat than any other single group in this state. These are the facts.

John E Stankiewicz

Matawan, NJ