2026 AGFC license plate paints a picture of conservation 

LITTLE ROCK — Flock to your nearest Arkansas revenue office and add a splash of color to your daily commute. The latest edition of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Conservation License Plate features a stunning image of a painted bunting, one of the most beautiful birds to call The Natural State home and a favorite of wildlife watchers throughout the South.

Splashed with spring greens and bright tones, this year’s artwork is the 10th to be designed by Greta James, the AGFC’s award-winning art director. The picture showcases the bright colors of the painted bunting, a striking summer resident, among a summer tallgrass prairie. Unlike ducks and other species that spend their summers far north of Arkansas and visit only during the coldest months of the year, painted buntings spend most of their breeding and nesting season right here in Arkansas, then head to the Gulf Coast and Caribbean to wait out the chills of winter.

More than just a pretty picture, each plate raises $25 (total cost is $35 above the standard registration fee) for conservation efforts. Since its creation in 2000, the Conservation License Plate Program has raised more than $21 million for conservation scholarships and internships for Arkansas students, materials and exhibits for AGFC nature centers, and even land acquisitions to improve hunting and fishing access in Arkansas.

The plates are available online at dfa.arkansas.gov (click on “online services” then “drivers”) and at revenue offices across the state.

The painted bunting is the ninth bird species to be featured on a conservation license plate. The previous eight were ruby-throated hummingbird (2001), eastern wild turkey (2003), mallard (2004), Ivory-billed woodpecker (2006), bald eagle (2013), northern cardinal (2016), northern pintail (2019) and barred owl (2024).

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