PHILADELPHIA - The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been working to protect the state's timber rattlesnakes since the late 1960s. After declining in the 1970s and early 1980s, the Game Commission listed the species as a candidate species for listing as an endangered species. In 1993, a statewide inventory survey was conducted. After population assessment studies, a harvest limit of one snake per person was approved. Since then, regulations have been in place governing the collection of this species. In 2016, the state Game Commission removed the rattlesnake species from the candidate list, but the species is still listed as a conservation need.