The Nature Conservancy has protected tens of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania through the help of its members, conservation partners, and hunting and fishing organizations.

Some of this land has been transferred to public agencies such as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry and Pennsylvania Game Commission. The public agencies that now own and manage these lands generally allow hunting according to state laws.

Hunting and fishing are permitted on several Nature Conservancy owned preserves. We consider several factors when determining what activities to permit on any Conservancy preserve.

First and foremost, we consider whether an activity will damage — or in some cases improve — the natural resource values we sought to preserve. The Conservancy also considers community values, safety, and management issues. We encourage hunting in many places in Pennsylvania as a management tool to improve forest health in areas where game populations have grown beyond the forest’s capacity to support them. Pennsylvania hunting licenses are required to hunt Conservancy preserves. Special restrictions apply to hunting on some of our preserves and written permission may be required as well.

Enrolling preserves in Pennsylvania Game Commission programs such as the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), the Conservancy receives assistance on policing illegal activities such as ATV trespass that damage the natural resources that the preserves protect. For more information on DMAP, please contact Jenny Case, Stewardship Program Manager, at jcase@tnc.org or (570) 643-7922, extension 13.
 

Click to see what Nature Conservancy sites are available to hunting in Pennsylvania »

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Todd Sampsell/TNC (Dense forests of Brush Mountain); Photo © George C. Gress/TNC (West Branch Wilderness).