In a room filled with more than 100 people, only one person stood up to defend Penn State's pending acquisition of 1,200 acres of land for research purposes.

Penn State is using that area to teach students conduct research, said John Elnitski, chairman of Benner Township supervisors.

"They can apply for certain funding through the state, they can use their tuition to help do that -- and the game commission and other areas like that don't always have those resources," he said.

A community meeting was held by the Spring Creek Canyon Alliance to discuss alternatives to Penn State purchasing part of a 1,800-acre tract of land that is part of the Spring Creek Canyon fishery lands -- land many community members feel should remain in the public's hands.

However, no matter who wanted the land, people would object to its transfer, Ed Perry, founder of the Spring Creek Canyon Alliance, said.

"This really is not about Penn State ... if the YMCA wanted it, we would object to that," he said. "It's about the fact that these are public lands and they should stay in public ownership."

The goal of community is to get permanent protection from a trusted landowner. The land will be used for all activities parks are

used for, including hunting, fishing, hiking, walking dogs, and nature studying. There's no other way to get that experience other than opening it up to the public, Perry said.

That public resource should be overseen by the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission, Bob Leonard, the moderator of the discussion, said.

Currently the proposal is in the state Senate rules committee, waiting for further decisions to be made, Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, who attended the meeting, said.

The bill, Senate Bill 740, still has no set date for when it will be voted on, he added.

Many of the concerns the community members at the meeting had involved how Penn State would use the land.

"I think we're reaching a point where someone has to step forward with a plan that is viable, reviewable by the general public," Ted Trostle, of State College, said. "We don't know what's going on in the master process, we don't know that detail yet -- it's time for something else to happen that confronts that."

Penn State's intended uses for the land include agricultural, industrial teaching extension and research uses, and most recently bio energy research, Bill Brusse, president of the Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Community members might not be aware of the memorandum agreement with Penn State -- the university has to sit down with Benner Township every year and discuss what's going to happen with the land, Elnitski said.

"In six years and ten years we don't know if the supervisors are going to have the same ideals that you have," said Jeff Sturniolo, president of ClearWater Conservancy, said in response to Elnitski's comment.

"But, I mean, you've got to have some trust somewhere," Elnitski replied, garnering many shouted comments from the crowd. "You're trusting the gaming commission, but there are still no guarantees."

Bob Polis, of State College, said he would put his trust in the gaming commission.

"We need money to do this, we need money to do that. I think that's the whole issue here, so nobody does anything," he said. "Let the gaming commission let the property stay the way it is."

When Elnitski asked to reply to this comment the crowd responded with boos, and shouts of 'no' echoed across the room.

"That area is in trouble right now environmentally. There are invasive species and gypsy moths causing damage," he said ignoring the crowd's outburst. "We're not sitting on the sidelines and letting that place deteriorate, it's in our township and we're going to take care of it."

At the end of the meeting, Leonard asked the community members to mount a statewide campaign to reconsider the bill, and the alternative would be for the gaming commission to take over ownership of the land.

Corman said the meeting contained a lot of information and some may have been accurate and some may not.

A Web site about all of the plans for Spring Creek Canyon will be running by Friday at www.canyonplanning.com.