Central Arkansas AGFC public meeting moved

Oct. 20, 2021

Randy Zellers

Assistant Chief of Communications

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has made a change to the timing of one of its upcoming public meetings concerning the changes to management on its greentree reservoirs beginning with the 2021 waterfowl winter migration season.

The Central Arkansas meeting originally planned for Nov. 4 at Flyway Brewing Company in North Little Rock has been moved to Nov. 9 to avoid a conflict with the Central Arkansas Ducks Unlimited membership event. The location also has been moved a few blocks away to the Diamond Bear Brewery at 600 N. Broadway St. All other meetings will remain at their previously scheduled times and locations:

• Oct. 26 — White County Cooperative Extension in Searcy
• Oct. 28 — Rich-N-Tone’s Flying Duck Taproom in Stuttgart
• Nov. 9 — Diamond Bear Brewing Company in North Little Rock
• Nov. 18 — ASU Cooper Alumni Center in Jonesboro

“We want to make these meetings as accessible as possible, and many of the people who would attend the DU event would be interested in joining us at ours as well,” AGFC Director Austin Booth said. “This is an excellent opportunity for the sportsmen and sportswomen of Arkansas to speak in an informal setting with the Commissioners and staff about the reasons for our changes to water level and forest management.”

In September, Booth announced at a special press conference that winter flooding on George H. Dunklin Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area, Henry Gray Hurricane Lake WMA and Earl Buss Bayou DeView WMA all would see changes to their traditional water management plans. He also announced that Sheffield Nelson Dagmar WMA would continue following a recent change to its water management plan, forgoing intentional flooding on one of its popular waterfowl-hunting areas.

The changes are in response to recent die-offs and damage seen on these popular duck-hunting areas to protect remaining duck habitat and regain lost bottomland hardwood trees that are crucial to mallards and other waterfowl during their winter migration.

“I encourage anyone who has questions about these management decisions to join us at one of these meetings,” Booth said. The AGFC’s waterfowl management team and habitat management team can talk one-on-one about the details of these changes and how they may affect hunters.”

A video of the press conference is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wvR0kA6hcs&t.

Visit www.agfc.com/gtr for more information on greentree reservoir management in Arkansas.