AGFC gives more than $690,000 from fines for education grants through the Division of Rural Services

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in Little Rock voted unanimously Thursday to grant $690,625 to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services to distribute as conservation education grants for schools during the 2026-27 school year. The money was derived from all wildlife and boating violation fines collected in the state.

“More than $536,000 was collected last year, and an additional $154,500 was left unused from schools last year, but it also came from fine money in previous years,” Kyle Curry, the AGFC’s Customer Experience Section lead, said at the Commission’s monthly meeting.

According to Curry, the AGFC does not keep any money derived from wildlife fines. Instead, that money is collected from each county and then returned to the schools in that county through the Division of Rural Services.

“They administer grants for conservation education programs, such as Fishing in the Natural State, Project WILD, Archery in the Schools, and educator workshops and field trips to nature centers, hatcheries and other facilities focused on conservation in Arkansas,” Curry said. “The idea behind these grants is to educate the next generation about how conservation works, so that they will hopefully be less likely to violate regulations that are there to protect our natural resources, and maybe even inspire some young people to take on the responsibility to be the next generation of conservation stewards and leave Arkansas’s outdoors better than they found it.”

One school that benefited from such grants was in attendance at the meeting. Members of Magnet Cove High School’s archery team traveled to Little Rock to be formally recognized for their outstanding accomplishments at the National Archery in the Schools tournaments this year. The team, which took first place in the Bullseye and 3-D competitions at the state championships in March, placed third in the 3-D competition at nationals and 18th in the Bullseye discipline at the same event. They went on to take third place in the Bullseye competition and second in the 3-D competition at the World Championships in June at Daytona Beach, Florida.

Kimberly Farber, Magnet Cove’s head coach, said she was impressed by the dedication the students showed throughout the tournament year, and noted that the school was only in its second year of incorporating the archery program into their high school.

“They’re a young team that really put their hearts into it,” Farber said. “They practiced at least twice a week, and they took first place in every tournament they participated in on their path to nationals and [world championship].”

In addition to their archery accomplishments, members of the team noted that participation in Archery in the Schools gave them a richer school experience.

Ellie Sowell, a student on the Magnet Cove team, said she was very shy and probably could count her friends on one hand before she joined the archery team.

“Most of these people on the team, I would have never talked to otherwise. I would have probably just sat in the corner, ate my lunch quietly and went home,” she said. “But archery has allowed me to meet so many new people, no matter how pleasant or rude they were. It’s allowed me to learn restraint, patience and overall just how to talk to someone you’ve never met.”

In his monthly report, AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock commented about how the Magnet Cove team and all teams participating in AGFC programs are shining examples of the passion Arkansans have for the outdoors.

“There are high schools right now that cannot put six people on a football team; we’re putting 12 to 15 on an archery team here in The Natural State,” Schoenrock said.

He continued with updates of the Lake Conway renovation, which included a milestone moment with the recent installation of a bridge spanning the new water-control structure along the dam.

Schoenrock concluded his report noting that threats to our natural resources are always evolving, whether in Arkansas or on the land outside our state that affect many aspects of Arkansas’s hunting traditions. One of which was a recently proposed rule change at the Federal level that could have allowed the installation of large underground drainage pipes near wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region.

“In just the past three weeks, there was a significant threat to our pothole wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of the Dakotas, which is the breeding ground for Arkansas ducks,” Schoenrock said. “Your AGFC, along with other states, became involved as well as past Commissioner George Dunklin and we worked with our Washington, D.C., contingent and with our state elected officials as well to offer comments to the Department of the Interior … Arkansas, along with a lot of other states and nongovernment organizations, was able to defeat this effort. I’d like to thank both our wildlife and legislative teams for rising to the challenge on this call to action.”

The Commission also voted to institute a permit-based draw hunt on a portion of St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area in Poinsett County beginning with the 2026-27 Waterfowl Hunting Season; however, many aspects of that hunt have been modified from its original proposed form.

The agency received 775 emails from 547 unique email addresses during the comment period for the proposal. The most common comments received in opposition to the proposal were to increase the hunting party size, the duration of the draw hunt, and place the draw only for nonresident hunters. Commissioners had lengthy discussions with members of the public during the 30-day comment period, as well as a large group of hunters opposed to the draw hunt during Wednesday’s committee meetings.

In response to those comments and discussions, the Commission voted to increase the number of members allowed in a permitted hunting party from four to eight, and they added that drawn hunt periods would differ from other areas of the state. Instead of single-day hunts with permitted hunters removing blinds each day, applicants would apply for multiple-day hunt periods during each weekly application period and would be allowed to leave their blind in place until the end of their drawn hunt period.

Additionally, the size of the draw hunt area would be significantly reduced, and the remaining portion of the WMA would remain open on a first-come, first-served basis. Exact permitted locations will be determined within the next month and approved by commissioners before being posted for hunters to apply.

In other business, the Commission:

• Amended Codes 6.05 and 20.02 to clarify that a person may carry a legally possessed firearm at any time on a WMA, as long as it is not used for the illegal take or hunting of game when a season is not open. This code was already in place for legally possessed handguns, but was expanded to cover all legally possessed firearms.

• Amended Code 04.01 to clarify that daily bag limits are still enacted on game animals. Possession limits for all fish and wildlife other than migratory birds have been eliminated.

• Approved a minute order to accept the donation of a 3-acre tract of land bordering War Eagle Creek in Madison County from the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. The property will be used to construct a new access to the stream, and $250,000 was previously approved for construction of this access. The donation was made possible, in part, by the Walton Family Foundation and its continuing partnership with the AGFC to expand public access to land and water in northwest Arkansas.

• Formally denied a third-party petition from the Ozark Society to repeal the recently passed $10.50 AGFC WMA/Lake Conservation Permit.

• Formally denied a third-party petition from Larry Connelley to repeal or modify the recently passed $10.50 AGFC WMA/Lake Conservation Permit.

A video of the meeting in its entirety is available on the AGFC’s YouTube Channel.

####

CUTLINES:

TWO MEN SEATED
AGFC Chairman Rob Finley and Vice-Chairman Philip Tappan smile after approving more than half a million dollars to be devoted to conservation education grants in Arkansas. AGFC photo.

SPEAKING TO CROWD
Callan Hignight of the Magnet Cove High School Archery Team (speaking) won this year’s Grand Champion title at the 2026 National Archery in the Schools World Championship. AGFC photo.

AUDITORIUM
The AGFC passed a proposal to begin a permit-based draw hunt for waterfowl on a portion of St. Francis Sunken Lands WMA, but modified some aspects of it to address many public comments. AGFC photo.