Thirteen Arkansas schools recognized as leaders in outdoor education

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission recognized 13 schools from across The Natural State with the designation of “Schools of Conservation Leadership” at Thursday’s regularly scheduled Commission meeting in Little Rock.

According to AGFC Education Chief Mary Beth Hatch, 21 schools applied for the program last year, but only 13 completed all the requirements to achieve the designation.

The following schools were named Schools of Conservation Leadership for 2025-28:

• Deer K-12 School

• DeWitt Elementary School

• Happy Hollow Elementary in Fayetteville

• Izard County Consolidated High School

• Izard County Consolidated Middle School

• John L. Colbert Middle School in Fayetteville

• L.M. Goza Middle School in Arkadelphia

• Lincoln High School

• Mount Judea K-12 School

• Pinkston Middle School in Mountain Home

• Sherwood Elementary School

• SOAR Academy in Fayetteville

• Valley Springs High School

To earn this designation, each school had to participate in a variety of conservation-based activities and curricula. In addition to enrollment in programs such as Hunter and Boater Education, Fishing in the Natural State and Stream Team, schools had to have guest lecturers attend their campus to present conservation-oriented materials, complete a student visit to a hatchery or AGFC nature center, and showcase conservation in community-based outreach through fishing derbies or STEM nights. Additional requirements for teachers completing conservation-based professional development and applying for conservation education grants were also included in the designation. Each school was required to host program evaluators in a site visit to showcase everything accomplished over the school year.

“It’s really exciting to be here today,” Hatch said. “A little over a year ago, we were asking, ‘Could we do this?’ and now we’re saying ‘Look at what we did.’”

Each school received a plaque as well as a banner noting their achievement.

“These schools that earned this also are receiving a prize package of equipment that will help them retain this recognition for the next three years,” Hatch said. “The money for these prizes came from a grant provided by Entergy and delivered through our partner, the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation.” [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

AGFC Post Secondary Program Coordinator Lauren Cannon presented a summary of the agency’s summer internship programs to the Commission. Cannon, who organizes both the Internship Program and Conservation Scholarship Program, said the agency not only offers internships to college students who are receiving scholarships from the AGFC, but also works through the American Fisheries Society to host Hutton Scholar internships for high school students interested in fisheries careers. Thirty-two students participated in this summer’s internship program, which wraps up Friday.

Three individuals who participated in AGFC internships throughout the summer offered their insight on the internship program and spoke about how their first-hand experiences filled a gap in their conservation career journey, allowing them hands-on field experiences to back up the scientific knowledge they had acquired in school. [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

Of the many accomplishments AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock highlighted in his address to the Commission, he took a moment to focus on the AGFC’s new book, “River to Ridge: Arkansas’s Wildlife Management Areas.” The book was the culmination of five years of writing and collaboration with many individuals of the agency’s Wildlife Management, Fisheries, Education and Communications divisions and will be available for purchase beginning Aug. 1. Within its 454 pages, the book highlights nearly all of the AGFC’s wildlife management areas, with a bit of history and featured activities on each.

“A bucket list for all of us should be to put a date in this book of when we visited those WMAs,” Schoenrock said. “This is a keepsake.”

The Commission also authorized a budget increase of $500,000 to fund three management practices to improve wildlife habitat on private land.

Randy Brents, assistant chief of the AGFC Private Lands Habitat Division, said the budget increase is for a portion of a $2.5 million grant that the agency received from the USDA Forest Service’s Landowner Support Initiative, and that the remaining balance will be used to fuel additional conservation work in the next fiscal year.

“We actually received notice of the grant from the Inflation Reduction Act Landowner Support Initiative in September of last year, but the funds associated with the grant were delayed earlier this year,” Brents said. “Now that it has been processed, we are going to offer a portion of it this year, and deliver the remainder for next year to allow landowners the full year to complete the three practices eligible for the grants.”

According to Brents, landowners will be able to apply for assistance to conduct prescribed burns, timber stand improvements or invasive tree removal through the AGFC’s Private Lands Habitat Division.

“These types of grants typically require a 20 percent match,” Brents said. “We were able to show how many of these practices we currently employ through similar programs directly benefit underserved communities, which eliminated that matching requirement, saving the agency $625,000 in state match requirements.” [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

In other business, the Commission:

• Recognized 28 employees with a combined 320 years of service to the natural resources of The Natural State. [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

• Awarded retiring game warden Lt. Jim Pennington his service sidearm for more than 14 years of service to the AGFC. [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

• Approved a minute order to restructure the agency’s committee structure, reducing the number of standing committees from seven to four, to streamline commission meetings. [LINK TO PRESENTATION]

A video of today’s meeting is available on the AGFC’s YouTube Channel.

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CUTLINES:

GROUP SHOT
Thirteen Arkansas schools received the designation as a “School of Conservation Leadership” at Thursday’s Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Meeting. AGFC photo by Mike Wintroath.

POWERPOINT
Jarvis McCray, who recently graduated from Jacksonville High School, shared his internship experience with the Commission during the AGFC’s regularly scheduled July meeting. AGFC photo by Mike Wintroath.

BOOK
AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock announced the completion of the agency’s new book, River to Ridge, which will be on sale beginning Aug. 1, at agfc.com. AGFC photo by Mike Wintroath.

SMILE
Anne Marie Doramus presided over her first AGFC Commission Meeting as chairman. Doramus is the first female chairperson in the agency’s 110-year history. AGFC photo by Mike Wintroath.