Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services is offering more than $690,000 to Arkansas schools to teach conservation education this year, thanks to grants funded entirely by hunting and fishing violation fines collected during the last year.

According to AGFC Chief of Education Mary Beth Hatch, the money is allocated through grants in each county based upon the fine money collected there, plus rollover dollars from grant money that was either unclaimed or unallocated.

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“We actually have more than $150,000 from previous years that’s still available; just over $536,000 is from last year’s fine money,” Hatch said. “Some counties don’t have enough schools applying for these grants, and others may not be able to accomplish a proposed education project within the school year; that money rolls back into the next year’s total for their county.” 

All wildlife and fishing fine money in each Arkansas county last year never really left the county where it was collected. Instead, the AGFC set that money aside and worked with the Division of Rural Services to distribute these grants.

The grants pay for conservation education programs that some schools would never be able to implement without the help.

“We really feel that students are able to learn best in settings that are engaging and applicable to the real world,” Hatch said. “In our work in education at AGFC, we are encouraging more conservation and outdoor learning environment experiences and learning opportunities for students across Arkansas. We have seen such great success in our AGFC School of Conservation Leadership and Generation Conservation experiences, and with these grants that will continue to grow and flourish. We also provide many alternative extracurricular programs that bring the outdoors to the school, such as Archery in the Schools, the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program, and field experiences at our nine nature centers around the state. ” 

Teachers and administrators have until Nov. 12 to apply for a conservation education grant here.

“School conservation programs play an essential role in fostering young Arkansans’ love of our great outdoors,” said Becca Caldwell, director of AEDC’s Division of Rural Services. “Partnering with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission on the Wildlife Education Grant Program, AEDC is working to increase access to conservation education and support outdoor recreation opportunities for students across Arkansas.”

Hatch says one of the initiatives many schools have used grants for in the last year is to complete requirements for their application to be designated as an AGFC School of Conservation Leadership.

“We’ve had a groundswell of schools, from elementary through high school, joining the program and working with their students to complete their SoCL designation,” Hatch said. “They’ve used grants to build outdoor classrooms, purchase equipment and supplies to complete their required conservation projects, and even fund trips to nature centers and our annual Generation Conservation Summit. We’re always looking for creative ways to get kids more involved in the outdoors, and some of the best sparks of inspiration have come from the teachers who apply for these grants.”

Click here for more information on the program, a link to the application site and a county-by-county list of grant money available.

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