LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officials said on Wednesday that a federal grant will help improve waterfowl habitat in the state.
AGFC Officials said the $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will go to its Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Program.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reviews public feedback on proposed hunting, fishing regulation changes
AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock said the grant period will allow “Arkansas rice producers to forgo fall tilling, flood their fields to make waste rice available for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, and allow limited public hunting opportunities on private land that would normally be inaccessible to duck hunters in the general public without a lease.”
Schoenrock explained how this is a win-win for both farmers and hunters.
“With the recent news that a combination of commodity prices and recent weather conditions have eliminated more than 800,000 acres of planted rice fields from Arkansas’s landscape, the need for flooded wetland habitat is critical to maintain healthy waterfowl populations throughout their migration,” he said. “This program is one of many steps the AGFC is making with private and federal partners to keep more habitat on the ground when the waterfowl need it most.”…