PATC Policy
The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club will work with partners to develop strategies that are consistent with existing federal, state, and local laws and regulations concerning the management of wildlife. As a rule, PATC endorses the philosophy that wildlife programs and practices should maintain and improve wildlife habitat, provided that such management does not conflict with the maintenance and management of the Tuscarora Trail.
Partners’ Policies
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Chapter 77 of the Pennsylvania fishing and boating regulations prohibits the taking of all reptiles and amphibians, except snapping turtles, without a permit. Persons cannot take fish over the age of 15 without a state fishing license.
Bureau of Forestry
The Bureau manages its lands for wildlife diversity and production primarily through the use of timber management actions. The Bureau staffs a wildlife biologist who also helps review impacts on wildlife from proposed development projects on forest and adjacent lands.
Bureau of State Parks
The Bureau considers wildlife habitat management in all of its plans and actively manages habitat to increase diversity on its lands.
Commonwealth of Virginia
Department of Game & Inland Fisheries
The Department is the state agency responsible for wildlife management. The Department sets hunting, fishing, and trapping regulations. Under cooperative agreements with the national forests and in state wildlife management areas, the Department is responsible for conducting projects to improve wildlife habitat. Traditionally, the Department has been oriented toward game species because it is funded through receipts from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses (rather than through general appropriations). Citizens can make contributions to this program when filing their income tax returns.
Game laws address hunting or trapping of:
- Bear
- Beaver
- Bobcat
- Deer
- Fox
- Grouse
- Mink
- Muskrat
- Nutria
- Opossum
- Otter
- Pheasant
- Quail
- Rabbit
- Raccoon
- Squirrel
- Turkey
A hunting license is generally required.
Animals not otherwise protected may be taken during any season without limit. These include:
- Starlings
- English sparrows
- Frogs
- Turtles
- Mammals not classified as game or fur–bearing
Songbirds are protected.
West Virginia
Division of Natural Resources
It is illegal to remove any natural object from the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area except game and fish legally taken during the open seasons as prescribed by 58 C.S.R.
