In addressing Caldwell’s 10-year-old son, Harley, sitting in the audience, Booth said with some obvious emotion in his voice, “Over the next seven years, we’re glad that (your dad) is here, and I ask that you never forget that your dad is doing this for the same reason that I’m doing this, and that the (other commissioners) are doing it here, and that the agency staff does it. That’s to leave things better than we found it, because that’s what this place is all about.”

No proposed hunting regulations clarifications for 2024-25 were approved, as the 30-day period for public comment in regulations clarifications brought before the Commission last month had not ended. Commissioner Rob Finley of Mountain Home said that commissioners will meet here (or by teleconference) at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 25, to approve those regulations changes. [Click for Presentation]

In other action:

• Booth submitted a minute order that was approved to retire the weapon from the agency inventory of former Chairman Jones.
• The Commission adopted the Arkansas Legislature’s approval last month of a 5 percent raise for Booth.
• Booth recognized the work of more than half of the AGFC Enforcement Division who worked extensively during Operation Dry Water July 4-6. Booth said 121 game wardens and officers worked 2,400 hours for public safety during the three-day period, contacting more than 3,600 boats and about 11,000 boaters on Arkansas waterways. Officers arrested 23 boaters for boating while intoxicated, handed out 188 citations and issued 346 warnings. Booth noted that, most importantly, there were no boating fatalities on Arkansas waterways during Operation Dry Water, a national campaign to raise public awareness about the dangers of boating under the influence. 

A video of the meeting is available at https://www.youtube.com/user/ArkansasGameandFish.

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CUTLINES:

IN CHARGE
J.D. Neeley of Camden (left) leads the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as its new chairman during July’s monthly meeting in Little Rock, as AGFC Director Austin Booth (left) and vice-chairman Anne Marie Doramus (right) look on.

INTERN AT THE LECTERN
Jackson Brown, a senior-to-be at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, was one of three summer interns at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who spoke to commissioners at the July monthly meeting. Each intern, part of a crew of 21 college interns and three Hutton Scholars at the agency this summer, gave a PowerPoint presentation of their work over an eight-week paid internship and how it has changed their understanding of how the agency operates.

FIRST DAY IN THE CHAIR
New AGFC commissioner Chris Caldwell of Little Rock notes his wife and son in attendance Thursday during his first monthly meeting with the Commission. Third-year commissioner Bill Jones is to Caldwell’s right.