A34—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 24,1981
Letters To
The Editor
Dear editor
Your editorial “Enough is
enough” m the January 3
issue of the Lancaster
Farming sure hit home with
our family
How well we know of the
ways of the Penn State
Commission Our farm was
one of those confiscated by
the Game Comm to bring
about the ill conceived
“Middle Creek Water Fowl
Project in Northern Lan
caster County and Southern
Lebanon County where we
lived.
The Game Commission
seized approximately 3200
acres of ground and much
of this ground was good
tillable soil Twenty-eight
farms were involved and
many of those farms were m
the same family for many
generations.
Death and destruction was
seen everywhere when this
project was in it’s forming
stages and to think that
this is possible in a country
such as ours is to be “The
Land of the Free”
Many pictures were taken
during this time of
destruction and death both
still and many feet of
movies It was simply un
believable but yet very true
I wrote many lettes to
persons who I thought
perhaps they could help us
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as the battle was great and
very grevious One such
letter is one that was sent to
scores of persons and in
closed you will find a copy of
this letter Much has been
omitted and much was not fit
for printing However
please read
One of your weekly
writers, Ida Risser (no
relation) apparently took a
group of youngsters to the
Middle Creek Project area
for a first hand look at the
Game Commission idol She
gave a writing as to her
impression of the project
and I also inclosed a copy of
her thinking written a few
years ago of their visit
According to her article she
was not too impressed
Our good farm land should
be preserved for farming
Food is this hfes greatest
need without it we will
soon have a lifeless world.
Again I say your article
of January 3 is certainly
very true I sure hope those
in authority come to grips
with one of the most im
portant issue of our present
time, and that is to make
permanent provision for the
preservation of our farm
land
MBERGER
You list three negative
aspects of the acquisition of
land by the state through
stae game lands
One “Wrong land is being
saved first No big rush of
developers to develop racky
hillsides.” There is an in
creasing amount of
developers who are using
wooded areas or hilly
terrain. Two examples are
Spring Hill Acres consisting
of 985 acres and Ironmaster
Acres consisting of 200 acres
of mountamland going into
housing development.
“Why not use the same
money that would go to
buying up Game Lands as
incentive payments for
farmers to keep land in
agriculture’”
Once the state starts
paying farmers for saving
farmland in direct payment
for land, you are not far from
communist controlled
farmland. The money to buy
state game lands does not
come from the state’s
General Fund Annual
license fees bring m 56 8
percent of the $25,300,000
taken in by the Commission,
the rest coming from other
PGC operations such as
timbering
If the money that buys the
land does not come from the
non-hunting public, it
shouldn’t be used to save
farmland The hunters
bought their license paying
Lester G. Kisser
Mercersburg
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to
your editorial “Enough is
enough” in the January 3,
1981 issue of Lancaster
Farming.
I believe open spaces
should be saved whether it is
farmland, backwoods or
mountains There has to be a
balance maintained of all
types of land not just one
kind
for the privilege to hunt.
They expect the Pa. Game
Commission to manage,
enforce, and regulate all
wildlife and protect en
dangered species on public
and private land. The Game
Commission has done a very
good job over the years smce
it was founded.
Two “the Commonwealth
pays no tax on state park
land and only 39 cents per
acre on game and forest
land.” Private mountain
land owners pay less on their
land than does a person who
has a house, business or
farm. The county and
township receive some tax
dollars but they will not have
to put roads through the
forest as long as it is game
land.
Schools receive a share
even though that land will
never send a child to school.
Three. "We would argue
that game land, while open
to all of the people, actually
benefit a relative handful of
the population ” When
private property is posted
against trespassing, people
can turn to state gameland
Anyone who enjoys the
outdoors, bird watchers,
hunters, hikers, and wildlife
photographers, all can enjoy
the state game lands.
Those very game lands are
watershed areas for all the
cropland in Pennsylvania
The trees help purify the air
and keep the water pure that
feed into the streams and
rivers that run through the
lowlands providing water for
crops, people and livestock
This water is a very special
thing to all walks of life
You say ‘ Enough is
enough” but a report in your
newspaper issue Jan. 3,1981,
p. A 9 “State farmland” by
the USDA Soil Conservation
Service report that cropland
in Pennsylvania is
National Muncy Chief 25
Champion Harold Kramer
5X662 254 Bu Acre
FOR HIGH YIELDS
PLANT MUNCY CHIE
SEED CORN, SEED
OATS, SOYBEANS
Gentlemen: Please send award I
book and catalog. ? |
Name
Address
City
State
Phone
I am interested in dealership if area
is open
MUNCY—CHIEF HYBRID
MUNCY. PENNSYLVANIA 17756
PHONE (717) 546-5981
decreasing by some 52,000
acres each year and
woodland at an even greater
rate of over 170,000 acres a
year.
In closing, I wish to say
there may be negative
aspects to this land
acquisition but the beneficial
aspects far outweighed the
negative. The Pa. Game
Commission is investing
their monies in preserving
their part of Pennsylvania
although benefiting many
others.
Judy Ann Moyer
R 2 Annville
Dear editor:
I was glad to see “Farm
Wife Practices Nursing,
Too”, thinking it might be a
realistic look at a farm wife
who works mostly off the
farm. However, nurse Treva
Marley also helps in seven
Acre
M C
Zip
greenhouses and a farm
market.
The superwomen farm
wives who milk, drive
tractor, organize community
activities, take care of kids
and home always fills me
with admiration and feelings
of inferiority.
Just once I would like to
see an article about a farm
partner who has an “out
side” profession and
provides only moral support
to her farmer husband.
Surely there is a place in
Lancaster Farming or the
world for the “Non
farmette” farm wife
There must be other
women whose time off the
farm is more valuable than
any labor they could give to
the business Remember,
my dollars make farm
mortgage payments, too
irst The
Seed
f
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11
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[i I
’A
SPECIAL
NOTICE
We still have a good
supply of #1 seed corn for
early delivery. Order your
extra seed or your
requirements NOW from
your local Muncy Chief
dealer or phone 717-546-
5981 collect.
Pro Wife
Phillipsburg