Conservation License Plates
A leaping largemouth bass, a mallard drake in flight, a woodpecker listening for grubs. Those are a few images on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s license plates, which debuted with a popular whitetailed deer in 2000. The ninth plate in the annual series – a sow black bear with her cub in the Arkansas highlands – became available January 1, 2008.
The first plate offered in the year 2000 featured a white-tailed deer. The next in the series was the 2001 license plate featuring a ruby-throated hummingbird and in 2002, the largemouth bass license plate made its debut. The 2003 license plate featured a turkey, 2004 was a mallard duck and the 2005 plate was a rainbow trout. In 2006, the plate featured an ivory-billed woodpecker and the 2007 plate featured an animal that is one of Arkansas’ most successful restoration efforts, the elk.
Proceeds from Arkansas’s conservation plates are used for conservation-related college scholarships and other conservation education needs. The scholarship fund that began in 1999 stood at $1.4 million by October 2007.
Animals depicted on the plates have no connection to the use of money raised by the plates. Proceeds from the ivory-billed woodpecker plate, for example, are not used for ivory-billed woodpecker habitat. The idea of specialty plates to raise money for causes has been around for decades, although Arkansas’s conservation series has taken off, perhaps because each year brings a new plate. Excellent artwork hasn’t hurt, either. Through last November, 31,259 plates had been sold
The license plates can be obtained in person at the Department of Finance and Administration or by mail. The license plates cost $35 with $25 going to the AGFC Conservation Scholarship Education Fund and $10 going to the Department of Finance and Administration. Click on each image for larger version of license plate.
How to Buy a License Plate
The special Arkansas Game and Fish Commission license plates may be obtained:
Through a gift certificate purchased at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Little Rock office which can be redeemed at the Department of Finance and Administration.
Through direct purchase from the Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicles, Special License Unit in Little Rock. The license may be obtained by mail or in person at the following addresses:
By mail:
Department of Finance and Administration
Office of Motor Vehicles, Special License Unit
P.O. Box 1272
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203
In person:
Charles Ragland Taxpayer Services Center
Special License Unit
1500 West 7th Street
Little Rock, Arkansas
Online: Click here to fill out an application for the current license plate.
If you wish to give the license plate as a gift, you may purchase a gift certificate from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Little Rock office. The bearer of the gift certificate may then take it to the Department of Finance and Administration or mail it in for redemption.
Funds raised through license plate sales for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are for conservation scholarships and conservation education. Purchasers have the option of keeping the same expiration date as the plate being replaced or beginning the Game and Fish plate with a full year's registration. The cost of the plate is $35 per year above the cost of a current plate. For more information, call (501)682-4692.
Arkansas Conservation License Plates Ranked by Number Sold
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White-tailed deer (2000)
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6,301
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Hummingbird (2001)
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5,834
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Mallard (2004)
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4,174
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Ivory-billed Woodpecker (2006)
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3,627
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Eastern Wild Turkey (2003)
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3,049
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Largemouth Bass (2002)
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3,002
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Rainbow Trout (2005)
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2,764
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Elk (2007)
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2,508
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Total (through Nov. 30, 2007)
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31,259
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