Birders benefit from waterfowl habitat program
Feb. 9, 2022
LITTLE ROCK — Duck hunters aren’t the only people who know and appreciate the soul-stirring sight of thousands of ducks, geese and other migratory birds descending on open fields in the Arkansas Delta. Each year, birders and other wildlife-watching enthusiasts flock to wetlands during winter to catch a glimpse of these birds as they make their annual trip between nesting grounds in the North and warmer breeding grounds below the frost belt. And thanks to the habitat offered by waterfowl-focused programs in Arkansas, these birdwatchers have more than 3,800-acres of private land to enjoy their passion through the end of winter.
New Lake Maumelle loop trail offers birds, blooms and bank fishing
Oct. 27, 2021
LITTLE ROCK — A new loop in the trail system around Lake Maumelle in central Arkansas will take visitors on a tour of scenic views among the open forests of the Ouachita foothills. The 2.3-mile Bufflehead Bay trail was completed this fall, and is sure to be a favorite among bird-watchers and other conservationists looking for a secluded adventure without the long drive to a remote destination.
ADH urges Arkansans to take precautions during tick and mosquito season
June 16, 2021
LITTLE ROCK – As Arkansans plan to enjoy the outdoors during the coming summer months, the Arkansas Department of Health stresses the importance of taking precautions against ticks and mosquitoes and the diseases they can carry.
AGFC to join Governor Hutchinson for St. Francis Sunken Lands Water Trail dedication
April 30, 2021
TRUMANN — Officials from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the Trumann Chamber of Commerce and delegates from northeast Arkansas will join Gov. Asa Hutchinson at 10 a.m. May 5 to dedicate the recently completed St. Francis Sunken Lands Water Trail in Poinsett County. The dedication will take place at the Oak Donnick Access in Trumann (Click for Map).
WRICE program fields still offering benefits for waterfowl, birdwatchers and wildlife viewers
Feb. 17, 2021
LITTLE ROCK — There’s still time to enjoy one of the many private-land locations reserved throughout the state through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Wildlife Management Division’s Waterfowl Rice Incentive Conservation Enhancement Program, you’ll just need to switch from the shotgun to binoculars, spotting scope and camera. Until February 28, people interested in viewing wildlife on any of the WRICE program locations may do so without any special permits or permissions.
Swallow-tailed kites successfully raise young in Arkansas after 130-year absence
Sept. 16, 2020
FOUKE — With less than a year before his scheduled retirement, Mike Harris, an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission senior technician at Sulphur River Wildlife Management Area, completed a quest that’s been a decade in the making — documenting the first pair of swallow-tailed kites to successfully raise young in Arkansas since 1890. With the help of a live photo from an iPhone, showing adult kites feeding a fledgling, the Arkansas Audubon Society Bird Records Committee confirmed his finding in August.
AGFC opens new earthquake-fueled paddling adventure in northeast Arkansas
Aug. 12, 2020
TRUMANN — The latest water trail added to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s watchable wildlife destinations has been a long time in the making — about 208 years. St. Francis Sunken Lands Water Trail in Poinsett County takes advantage of the effects of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 and offers canoe and kayak enthusiasts a rare view of the creatures that call these bottomland hardwoods home.