First State Game Lands
Jones Township, Elk County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A tract of 6288 acres lying north and east of here was the first purchase of State Game Lands by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The purchase was made in 1920 with funds obtained from hunting license fees.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1920, the Pennsylvania Game Commission used money raised entirely from hunting-license fees to buy 6,288 acres of Elk County forest — the first tract in what would become the state's vast State Game Lands system. The purchase reflected a Progressive-Era conviction that wildlife and wild country were public resources worth conserving for everyone, and that hunters themselves should foot the bill. From this single Elk County parcel grew a statewide network now covering well over a million acres.
Why it matters
It marks the birth of one of America's largest state wildlife-conservation systems and a model, still copied today, of funding public land through the sportsmen who use it.
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Related events
- · First purchase of Pennsylvania State Game Lands, 1920
Themes & tags
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