Cambria County native new director of Pa. Game Commission Southwest Region

The Pennsylvania Game Commission didn’t have to look far for its new Southwest Region Office director.

Jason D. Farabaugh began his new position last weekend, running the office in Fairfield that oversees a 10-county area.

The Carrolltown, Cambria County, native spent his entire 13 years with the game commission working multiple positions in the agency’s southwest region.

Farabaugh, 46, fills a vacancy created by the retirement of former region Director Thomas Fazi of Ligonier. He said he will be an advocate for both hunters and outdoor enthusiasts.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected as the Southwest Region’s new director and to continue serving Pennsylvanians and protecting our wildlife,” Farabaugh said.

Farabaugh said he is looking forward to continuing to work alongside familiar professionals who he knows are dedicated and have experience managing and protecting the outdoors.

“Together, we will continue to manage and protect Pennsylvania’s wildlife and state game lands, assuring all hunters and outdoor enthusiasts they have an advocate for the wild places and wild creatures they enjoy,” he said.

Farabaugh graduated in 1996 from West Virginia University with a bachelor of science degree in wildlife management.

During his summers in college, Farabaugh spent a lot of time at Prince Gallitzin State Park, near his home in Cambria County, and got to know Chris McDevitt, the former waterways conservation officer there. He credited McDevitt for showing him the ins and outs of that “outdoor” job with the state fish and boat commission.

“I was also interested in law enforcement and combined that with working in the outdoors. Chris eventually added me on as a deputy waterways conservation officer,” Farabaugh said.

He said his colleagues urged him to continue working to become a game warden.

After graduating from college, he worked for the Cambria County Conservation District as a resource specialist until 2000. From 2000 until 2007, he was an environmental scientist for an engineering firm in Altoona.

Additionally, Farabaugh, who now lives in Scottdale, served as a deputy waterways conservation officer from 1998 through 2007.

He was part of the game commission’s 27th class at the Ross Leffler School of Conservation, graduating in 2008. He obtained the highest grade point average among that class, according to a news release.

His first assignment was in northern Fayette County. In 2011, he transferred to a neighboring district and remained in that post until 2015, when he became a conservation administration supervisor in the Southwest Region Office — which has jurisdiction in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

As a conservation administration supervisor, he oversaw state game wardens in 10 counties, as well as the region’s five dispatchers. He also managed the region’s vehicle fleet and buildings; coordinated pheasant releases and the hunter access landowner program within the region.

Bryan Burhans, the commission’s executive director, noted Farabaugh’s strong conservation background and education as well as his demonstrated ability to advance through the ranks within the agency.

“It’s not hard to see that Jason has the talent and experience to serve as a region director in one of the commonwealth’s busiest, most populated regions,” Burhans said. “Having spent so much of his life in this region, Jason is intimately familiar with the region’s sprawling urban areas as well as its rugged areas west of the Allegheny Front.”