Letter to Pa House State Government Committee Regarding HB 1785

July 23, 2009

Honorable Babette Josephs
300 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202182
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2182

Dear Chairwoman Josephs:

We are aware two bills, HB 1785 (Hanna) and HB 1158 (Benninghoff), have recently been introduced in your committee that authorize the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Governor, to divest land currently managed by the State Correctional Institution at Rockview situated in Benner Township, Centre County.

Although both bills, in part, seek to convey restricted land use privileges to The Pennsylvania State University College of Agricultural Sciences for agricultural research and education purposes, the bills dramatically differ in the methodology and realization of this goal.

Representative Hanna’s bill, HB 1785, seeks to sell portions of the property directly to The Pennsylvania State University and has clearly-stated, comprehensive conservation objectives that have been developed through an extensive public/community planning process and are documented in a Master Plan. This bill provides that the Master Plan be implemented with the oversight of a public/community Land Management Partnership committee. The bill requires legally binding conservation easements on the property to guarantee appropriate uses in perpetuity. The bill provides for the easements to be overseen by a local land trust – Clearwater Conservancy – and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, both of whom participated in the planning process, along with the potential land owners, and the community at large.

Representative Benninghoff’s bill, HB 1158, seeks to sell portions of the property to the Pennsylvania Game Commission and “allows The Pennsylvania State University to engage in farming and agricultural research on the land conveyed for a period of 35 years…subject to a condition that the land conveyed herein shall be used…in accordance with the Pennsylvania Game Commission's mandated functions and related policies.” This option has had no public vetting, requires no management plan, no conservation easements, no public land management partnership committee, and was initiated without input from the College of Agricultural Sciences or the public.

The college’s interest in this property is due to its high quality, high diversity, proximity, and accessibility. We would use the property to demonstrate best practices that sustain agriculture and natural resources in a diverse, complex environment. We would use the agricultural ground for novel research that we simply cannot conduct on land we currently own, whether for decades-long studies of biomass crops, organic production methods, or sustainable-practice cultivation that benefits local food/energy availability. The areas near the canyon and on the uplands represent a strategic opportunity to look at different approaches to restoration of appropriate vegetation, the applied ecology that underlies much of our work in agriculture and the environment. This land has the potential to be transformational for the college and Penn State. These are not objectives that are compatible with a short-term lease proposed in HB 1158 (Benninghoff) or the limited, focused mission of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The Game Commission owns property for a very specific purpose - management to encourage game species. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is funded almost entirely by hunters and trappers, or assets that have been procured with license dollars, and they are responsive to their funders’ needs. HB 1158 (Benninghoff) would not provide us - as lease-holders - the flexibility of decision-making, stability of purpose, and the vision for the kind of education of university students and residents of the Commonwealth that we have in mind for this property. Also, the Game Commission’s narrow goals and philosophies simply do not align with the broader, more comprehensive goals and philosophies of the other diverse stakeholders that have been involved in development of a vision for this property provided by HB 1785 (Hanna).

We, and college stakeholders across the Commonwealth, are supportive of HB 1785 (Hanna) and have been actively involved in the resulting public process of building a community vision for this property. We hope you will support the movement of this bill through the committee and allow this vision to become a reality. I would be happy to discuss our interest in this property in more detail if you believe this would be beneficial. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience with any questions.

Sincerely,

Bruce A. McPheron
Dean