After more than a century, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is axing their volunteer deputy program across the commonwealth.
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is ending its volunteer deputy program after more than a century, leaving 36 deputies across the Commonwealth without their positions — including one Lancaster County man who has served for more than 40 years.
The program will officially end Sept. 1.
For Dave Eichler, the decision marks the end of a 40-year career as a volunteer deputy. He first joined the program in 1985 after a friend he knew through the Boy Scouts suggested he become a deputy.
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“I didn’t know it was going to come to this. I’m saddened. I’m going through all the phases of loss,” Eichler said.
Volunteer deputies assist the PFBC’s full-time waterways conservation officers with duties related to fishing and boating enforcement.
For Eichler, that work has included interacting with anglers and boaters, helping during trout stockings and providing traffic control when crowds gather near stocking locations.
“Its more than just being with a boat or being with a trout stocking truck, it’s also traffic control,” Eichler said. “Oftentimes there’s a parade of cars of interested people that follow the stocking truck to the streams, and it’s up to the officers to do the traffic control.”
Eichler said the deputies were not given much explanation when they were notified of the decision.
The commission said ending the program is part of the “natural evolution of modern conservation law enforcement.”
The change will also affect how coverage is handled in Lancaster County.
Without Eichler, the full-time officer he assists will be responsible for roughly 500 square miles of the county alone.
For Eichler, the end of the program means saying goodbye to the people and waterways that have been part of his life for more than four decades.
“I’ll miss most is the interaction with the public, with the angling and the boating public,” Eichler said. “I’m going to miss that. A lot of people out here know me.”
With the program ending Sept. 1, Eichler is spending his final days on the water as a PFBC volunteer deputy before hanging up his badge for good.