Emily Carrollo was well aware of the importance of taking over the job offered to her by taking over the Pennsylvania Game Commission's black bear program. Until joining the Game Commission in 2020, she was a wildlife biologist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, specializing on bear management.

Emily takes over the Game Commission's top bear position from Mark Ternent, who is now PA's Northwest Region Wildlife Management Supervisor. Emily said, “I'm very excited and incredibly honored to be in this position. The work that Gary Alt and then Mark Ternent, have done is incredible. This bear management program is one of the best in the country, including the hunting opportunities and the research that comes out of Pennsylvania, making it well-known with the public and wildlife managers everywhere.”

Although New York's bear population is much smaller in numbers as the one she is managing now, Emily is experienced in the many nuances of conflicts with bears in Pennsylvania.

While doing prior work in New York State as a wildlife biologist, one of her focuses was bear-human conflict issues in the seven-county region of the Hudson Valley where she held numerous community meetings in towns where bear sightings were occurring.

In Pennsylvania bear sightings in suburban communities are commonplace, as is the need for education and response to bear nuisance complaints.

Carrollo commented, “Outreach is one of my favorite parts about being a biologist. I've worked with many biologists and other species, and a lot of the ways they communicated with the public and implemented programs, those approaches often apply to bears as well.”

Still there is something about bears that Emily feels sets them apart from other species, and this is why she decided to focus on bears for her career.

Arizona may ban

trail cameras!

Arizona state regulators plan to consider banning motion-activated trail cameras that are used for the purpose of hunting, with supporters saying the ban would allow wildlife to reach watering holes and give animals a fighting chance to live another day.

It was stated that animals can be deterred from using scarce water sources in drought-stricken areas because so many people place and check on these remote cameras to see how many and when these animals arrive to seek water.

Chairman of the Arizona Game & Fish Commission, Kurt Davis said, “The technology has gotten much cheaper and more affordable to purchase. There are some that will have water holes with 30 to 40 cameras on them.”

The commission plans to vote shortly on a proposed rule and if adopted, would not take effect before 2022. Davis said the commission has already received about 600 comments, most of them from hunters who favor the ban.

Jack Danchak is a longtime sportsmen and spent 30 years as the President of the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County, Inc.