Give the gift of habitat to a fish with your Christmas tree this year
Dec. 13, 2017
Once the wrapping paper has been thrown away and the last drop of egg nog has been consumed, few people have a use for that evergreen tree that graced their home during the holiday season. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has a new job for those leftover trees – as fish habitat.
Bull Shoals benefits from major habitat enhancement project
Dec. 6, 2017
As cold fronts finally begin to push the mercury down in Arkansas, many fair-weather fishermen have called it quits for the season, but that doesn’t mean the work stops for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Fisheries biologists and technicians from across the state have been diligently working for the last week to enhance fishing opportunities on Bull Shoals Lake in northwest Arkansas, even though many anglers won’t see the impact of these efforts until the weather warms.
Hatchery-raised shad boost food chain in Arkansas fisheries
Oct. 4, 2017
Fisheries managers often hear cries from enthusiastic anglers, shouting for more bass stockings or more stockings of Florida-strain largemouth, but growing large bass is much more about improving their environment than adding more to the system.
Improve quail habitat with a wave of the magic wand
Sept. 27, 2017
It may not be magical, but a spraying wand and applicator is one of the best and least labor-intensive tools a landowner can use to improve their property for quail.
Softball Skills Key to Northern Bobwhite Habitat Assessment
July 19, 2017
Summer means outdoor activities such as fishing, softball and the calls of the bobwhite quail whistling in the fields. You might think that bobwhite quail and the game of softball have nothing to do with each other, but biologists always are looking for ways to describe habitat conditions and life cycles of animals such as bobwhites to landowners. One quail researcher in Texas has made such an analogy. Dr. Dale Rollins, Executive Director of the Rollins Plains Quail Research Ranch in Texas has developed a simple habitat evaluation technique to determine if your property is good for quail.
Henderson State University Joins Quail Restoration Effort
July 12, 2017
Henderson State University’s Simonson Biological Field Station made points with anglers earlier this year by conducting a large brush-pile project with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Black Bass Program, but where those trees came from may be an even greater story for conservation in Arkansas. Biologists and educators with Henderson State, the AGFC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have worked together on the project, not only to benefit fish, but also create open habitat, suitable for northern bobwhite and other wildlife on the 200 acres surrounding the field station on the shore of DeGray Lake.
Forest thinning important tool for wildlife management
June 28, 2017
That ancient oak standing amongst a crowded forest canopy may look like the perfect magnet for deer, but that tree may not be the best use of space for wildlife in the long run. Selectively removing some damaged, old and less productive trees is part of healthy forest management and necessary to begin the next generation of forest for our children to enjoy.