Fish and Boat and Game commissioenrs make decisions impacting what people do outdoors. Six new decision makers are in place.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures
This is what an inauspicious beginning looks like.
On Monday, Pennsylvania Senators voted to put four new people on the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission board. Another two were confirmed for the Game Commission board.
All of the nominees were recommended by the Gov. Tom Wolf’s advisory council for hunting fishing and conservation. All were then nominated by Wolf himself.
Five were approved by unanimously, as a group, in one 49-0 vote.
Not so with Stanley Knick Jr., though.
The Dupont man, described as an avid hunter and angler and owner of Knick Fence Co., got 34 votes of support, but 15 nays, too.
That gets him on the board – he’ll represent District 7 in northeastern Pennsylvania – but perhaps without as much good will as otherwise.
And the problem is?
Sen. Lisa Baker, whose own area overlaps much of that Knick will be representing, offered an opinion. She said she didn’t vote for Knick because she’s never “heard from, met with or spoken to” him.
“In fact, there has been next to no advocacy on his behalf. Not one sportsmen’s organization or conservation club has expressed their support for this nominee to me,” she said on her website.
That’s “very unusual,” she added.
“Given the challenges and controversies we confront in managing our vast and vital land and wildlife resources, and with all the conservation and recreational and economic principles in play, I cannot support an individual whose background and philosophy are unknown,” Baker wrote.
Knick chocked it all up to a misunderstanding.
He first applied for the district 7 seat more than a year ago, he said. He talked to his local Senator then, he said, but didn’t realize he was expected to make the rounds and talk to any others.
“I was never told or didn’t realize that was the expectation,” Knick said. “But now I’m looking forward to meeting everybody and working with everybody.”
He’s not joining the board with a “big agenda,” he said. He would, though, like to get more youngsters involved in hunting and the outdoors.
“I just love the outdoors and just thought I could make a little bit of a difference,” he said.
Commissioners at a glance
In the meantime, here’s a look at the new Fish and Boat commissioners:
- William Brock of St. Marys, Elk County, will represent district 3. It includes Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter counties. He’s president and CEO of Straub Brewery and an avid hunter and angler.
- Richard Kauffman of Leesport, Berks County, will represent district 8. It includes Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties. He will complete the remaining term of Glade Squires, who was appointed to an 8-year term in 2010 and resigned in 2016. Retired from Penn State Cooperative Extension, Kauffman works as a consultant and is an avid hunter, angler and hiker.
- Robert Small of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, will represent district 6. It includes Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties. He’s Pennsylvania media and communications coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
- Richard Lewis of Gettysburg, Adams County, will serve as one of two boating-at-large commissioners on the board. He’s a regional vice president with the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited.
And here’s a look at the new Game Commissioners:
- Stanley Knick Jr. will represent district 7. It includes Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. He’s owner of Knick Fence Co. and an avid hunter and angler who’s a former vice president of the Eastern States Flemish Giant Rabbit Association.
- Michael Mitrick of York will represent district 6. It includes Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder and York counties. He’s a physician and life member of the Starview Sportsman Association and York Riflemen.
In each case, with each agency, the commissioners will officially assume their duties after they have taken the oath of office. They will serve four-year terms.
