Editor’s note: Randy Zellers, with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, is the author of this report.

It’s no secret that outgoing Commission Chairman Anne Marie Doramus is passionate about angling and public access in The Natural State, so it’s only fitting that in her final meeting with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission held Thursday (June 18) in Little Rock, the commission authorized more than $5.5 million in boating and fishing access improvements within the next year using Arkansas Marine Fuel Tax (MFT) funds.

The MFT projects approved include construction that will be conducted by AGFC contractors as well as joint projects that the AGFC will fund for partnering agencies to complete. The money comes from taxes collected by the Arkansas Department of Transportation and is allocated by the AGFC to ensure boating fuel is properly represented in fuel tax money collected and the users of that fuel benefit from their contributions.

One of those projects involves an asphalt overlay on Dallas County Road 246, a project to be completed by Dallas County.

AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock highlighted some of the most recent events taking place that concern outdoors enthusiasts, including a new mandate with federal partners in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge System that will open more acreage than ever before to outdoorsmen and women.

According to his report, pending a public comment period currently underway, more than 2,000 additional acres at Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge will be opened to the public this year, as well as 1,200 acres of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. Additional opportunities at Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge in the Arkansas River Valley will be available through increased hunting seasons for feral hogs and deer.

The meeting closed with the commission unanimously electing Commissioner Rob Finley of Mountain Home as chairman for the next fiscal year and Commissioner Philip Tappan of Little Rock to serve as vice chairman.

As she passed the gavel, Doramus had these final words of thanks for those in attendance and the countless people she has gotten to know during her tenure at the AGFC.

“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to sit in this seat and serve alongside these commissioners, present and past and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this agency,” Doramus said. “It’s been even more of an honor to get to know you, the people in this agency, sitting in this room, the volunteers, our partners, everybody. You have all made me a better person, and you have taught me so much about conservation and made me realize what I really, really love to do.”

In other business, the commission:

– Announced that more than $4.8 million has been earmarked for wetland habitat work in Arkansas.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Bayou Bartholomew Project Budget totaling $653,154.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Operating and Maintenance Budget totaling $134.9 million.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Land Purchase Budget totaling $2.4 million for expected property acquisitions within the next year.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Gas Lease Fund Budget totaling $66,000.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Black River Restoration Fund Budget totaling $1.5 million.

– Approved the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 Green Tree Reservoir and Wetland Habitat Budget totaling $5.2 million.