State Rep. Daniel Maloney, R-Pike Township, made several good points during a recent visit to Lycoming County.

Maloney was invited to speak at a sportsmen’s listening tour by state Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township. As reported in the outdoors section of Tuesday’s Sun-Gazette, he shared concerns about the pace at which the state is learning about chronic wasting disease and about oversight on how grant money connected to game and wildlands management is spent.

His concerns on those two issues, perhaps, can be solidly connected to a third question the lawmaker raised: Is leadership of the state Game Commission still appropriately driven by its principal stakeholders, the state’s hunters and sportsmen?

As we have noted in past editorials, hunting makes an enormous economic contribution to the state as a whole and specifically to rural Pennsylvania. Chronic wasting disease poses a threat to the viability of that economic contribution and could have detrimental consequences for livestock and agriculture as well.

Of course, adequate oversight of how every part of our state government spends money should always be a priority — and, we believe, is a priority for our region’s voters.

We agree with the legislators that including more hunters and sportsmen would help the state Game Commission address both of these issues and other issues that inhibit hunting in our state from realizing its even greater potential for supporting businesses and contributing to the economies of rural communities.

We hope lawmakers Maloney and Hamm are able to offer clear reforms and improvements to engage more hunters and sportsmen in the leadership of the state Game Commission and other relevant agencies.

— Williamsport Sun-Gazette