Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hi, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm Rex Nelson, senior editor of the Democrat Gazette and somebody I've been really looking forward to getting on the show, and that's Doug.
He is director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which, of course, we all know what a role the commission plays because hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, just such a part of our culture here in Arkansas.
Doug, welcome. Meant to get you on before now, but, I mean, I know how much this job entails, and I figured you spent the whole first year basically sipping from a fire hydrant coming at you from every direction.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: You know, Rex, I don't know that that fire hydrant's ever going to go away, but that's what I did for the first year for.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, it is a pleasure to have you on, obviously a pleasure to have you here in Arkansas. We'll talk about your background just a little first, then we'll get into commission initiatives. But I never take for granted that our audiences know about our guests.
You grew up in middle Tennessee, rural area.
I take it you grew up hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, 100%.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: You know, I was.
I was the kid that, you know, in the summertime when we had nothing to do but run around in the woods, I had. I sat on a pellet gun or a.22 on my bike and I had a PVC fishing rod holder on my back fork, and I had to be home by dark.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. That's the life. Yes, sir, that is the life. I was so fortunate as a boy that my dad was a major outdoorsman, hunting and fishing.
And all four of my grandparents were native Arkansans, and all four of them lived until their 90s. So I had all of my grandparents the whole time.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: That's a great lineage.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And so I grew up in southwest Arkansas at Arkadelphia. My dad was originally from central Arkansas and Benton, and then my mother was over from the Grand Prairie of East Arkansas at Des Arc. So I'd spend time at all three place.
Really got to experience different parts of the state growing up.
I know that is one thing you knew coming in to the job. I mean, through your work with Ducks Unlimited and so forth. We'll get into it. You've had a lot of experience in Arkansas, but, you know, it's just that this state is so varied. I mean, from mountains to prairies to the delta to the pinewoods of south Arkansas. It really isn't a number of states inside a state.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: We're Blessed. Yeah. You know, it's not a gigantic state, but yet there's so much ecological diversity where folks can do just about anything they want to do outside and not have to travel a long ways to do it.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah, we, I love. I speak to a lot of groups that are visiting here, kind of giving them an Arkansas overview. And one of the things, I know you all have used this at the commission, but one of the things I tell them, and it always kind of opens their eyes, I said we're the only state with an elk season, a bear season and an alligator season all in the same state.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Absolutely right. The only one you can harvest. All three in the same state.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Pretty unique.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Yeah, it really is unique.
So again, you grew up hunting, fishing, 4H. I pulled your bio material. Glad to see you're an Eagle Scout. I'm a fellow Eagle Scout, just so you know.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Thank you, sir. I appreciate your commitment to Boy Scouts.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Well, same here in that goal. Same here. It is so important.
So did you know early on that something related to natural resources, the outdoors, is what you wanted to do? I know you got a science degree from the University of Tennessee.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: You know, growing up in a rural environment and had calves and sheep and all that kind of stuff, growing up and active in 4H, you know, you spent your time outside about all the time.
And I love to hunt and fish and we tried to manage our property for hunting and fishing as much as we could for as little as we knew about it being basically, we're just farmers, you know, and the game was just a bounty of the land.
And I knew I wanted to do something. And my, my, my degree was in agriculture, my first degree.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: And it was an animal science.
And I didn't want to go back and run a farm.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: And so I wanted to stay close. So I ended up getting a master's degree in meat science.
And, you know, in my undergraduate degree, I took a lot of wildlife management courses just out of interest the electives.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: And ended up going to work for Sara lee Corporation for 20 plus years in the meat business. And that kept me close to the agricultural side of food.
And, you know, bounced around the country with them a lot and around the world in some other capacities, but kept my passion for hunting and fishing and started volunteering for Du Way 25 years ago.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. I was going to take it to du. So let's go about how this career with Sara Lee Savannah Food Corp. A long, successful career, but how it ended up taking you to DU to work full time.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: You Did. And what happened was, you know, at du, I ended up chairing some national committees. Ducks Unlimited is kind of run by volunteer committees. And there's, you know, there's fully capable, excellent staff there, but it's a volunteer run organization.
And I think they ran out of things for me to do, so they made me president.
And so it was an honor. You know, we took that organization to where we're doing, you know, a million acres on the ground, a year of habitat protection, and that really honed my conservation DNA and when, and probably, you
[00:06:24] Speaker A: know, and I always say this proudly, being the duck hunting capital of the world, probably put you in Arkansas quite a bit.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: You know, when I was in touch
[00:06:31] Speaker A: with a number of Arkansas. George Dunklan Jr. Of course, a former president of D and D. Yes, George
[00:06:36] Speaker B: was a dear friend. Well, my last second to last duty station for Sara Lee was in Memphis.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Oh, okay, so you.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: I lived in Memphis for, oh, my goodness, 15 years. Gotcha. And you know, when you live in Memphis, you go to Arkansas.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: That's right. You come east.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Yes, sir. And, you know, growing up south of Nashville, we didn't know what ducks were. We didn't have a lot of ducks.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: I mean.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Yeah, but man, when I got to Memphis, I learned about rice and I learned about ducks.
Very important.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. They are.
So got to DU work full time. I mean, during your food career.
During your DU career, I mean, you did everything from research and development to marketing to mergers, acquisitions.
And I have to think all of that was great experience because even though the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is a public entity, it is really a big business. I mean, one way to look at it is one of the largest landowners in the state of Arkansas.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Yes, sir. We. We outright own about 350,000 acres. Wow. We manage 3.2 million. So we have partnerships with timber companies and stuff.
And Sarah Lee, you know, the experiences I had in industry, a lot of people might say, what's a food guy doing in the. In the game and fish business? Well, I had left the food business after Sara Lee. I went to another company, a former president. It was a hush puppy company. We sold hush puppies. The kind you eat, not the kind you own.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: I love hush puppies.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: I love them too. I love them too much. Yeah. But worked there for 20 years and finally had retired.
And I knew I was going to do something, but I had this yearning to do something that gave back.
And, you know, when you're working for big companies for all those years, you don't realize the training that you get and the methodology that you get in business. And when the opportunity here came about, I wasn't sure if the state of Arkansas would have any interest in me, but they did.
And I think that the training of spending, you know, over 40 years in the for profit business really set me up well for moving into a government agency.
Not that there haven't been head scratchers, you know, because I haven't worked in government in the past.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: But. But I think that the experience of working in the for profit industry and the not for profit with Ducks Unlimited DU helped hone my conservation DNA. Working for big companies helped hone my business acumen. And so when it comes to P and L management, project management, getting things done and moving faster than the speed of government is a challenge for me and I look forward to that and I'm enjoying that.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Well, I think the commission knew exactly what it was doing because again, as I said, you're one of the biggest landowners in the states. You're a huge employer.
And I mean, I think of the variety of employees you've got, I mean, everything from biologists to trained law enforcement personnel, all under the same umbrella.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: You know, one of the first meetings I was in, I sat next to our crawdad specialist.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: I talked to him for two hours. You know, in between breaks and stuff. I learned more about crowd and, you know, we've got three or four species of crawdads that are new that we're even applying for. Whatever they do the.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: How they register the name.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: You have to get a name for them.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Yeah. That are native to Arkansas.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: And it hasn't happened yet, but I've been exposed to them and I never knew there was so much learn about crawdads or zebra mussels or. Or garters or.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Or bears even, for that matter.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Every day is an education.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: And I, you know, I just think, like I said, the outdoors is such a part of our culture in Arkansas. I write a lot, as you know, about conservation, about the outdoors, about game and fish commission projects. And one of the things I've always liked you talked about spending two hours with the crawdad specialist is to go to these people at the commission that are specialists and see their enthusiasm. I mean, I just love getting out with people who enjoy what they do. And you've got a lot of people where whatever specialty area they're in, it truly is their passion in life.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: You know, it's refreshing to work around professional staff who work for their Passion and not for their paycheck.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: That is really, really important because these folks are dedicated and they're enthusiastic and, you know, if you have any part of yourself that's a sponge for science and understanding, just talk to some of our folks.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: They're full of knowledge and they're passionate, and I highly respect them. And I feel my job is to make it easier for them to do their job.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. And one of the things that is so important is you've got these specialists. They're conserving the land, they're conserving the species that live there.
You know, we've always been a big hunting and fishing state, but in the era we live in now, I tell people, I said, even though the name is Game and Fish, I know you are so much more than just hunting and fishing. I mean, that's the focus. But, I mean, you've got hikers, you've got bird watchers, you've got all kinds of other outdoor recreational enthusiasts using your properties around the state.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. You know, last week I was in northwest Arkansas and I parked in a parking garage, went into a meeting. Some guy comes running in the meeting and found a bat on the sidewalk.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: And he comes in and said, who's driving the game and fish car? And I said, that was me, sir. I thought I parked wrong.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: And because I found a bat, what do I do with it? I said, well, I know somebody called. I said, I can put you in contact with a rehabilitator. You know, figure it out. And.
But so, yeah, you get to deal with so many things and so many people. It's a big company. It's over 600 employees.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: So you deal with a lot of administrative type stuff, but then you deal with A to Z on habitat and wildlife and then all the experiences that Arkansans love to do. Whether you hike or bike or float or fish or paddle or rock climb or whatever you want to do, it's in the natural state. And we support all of that through a lot of partner organizations. We don't, you know, we don't build bicycle trails, but if we have a wildlife management area that needs a bicycle trail, we'll work with foundations to build a bicycle trail through the wildlife management area to give folks more access to satisfy their passions.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: You know, one of the things. And given your long involvement with du, you knew this. But certainly here in Arkansas, you know, hunting and fishing is such a big passion that people take personally.
You and I recently were over in Lonoke together And I think I mentioned to you, I said, I have always considered the job you have now, kind of like being a major college football coach.
Everybody's got their own opinion and they're going to often, they're going to often disagree with the play you call on third and long. And I know you knew that coming in.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Well, you know, I, I like to play offense a lot more than I like to play defense. And we're trying to shift this organization into being more offensive.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: In terms of getting more done for the people of Arkansas as opposed to defending positions, being on defense.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: So we're trying to get the team to move into an offensive mode.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Let's talk about some of the big projects you have going on, one that was already underway when you got here, but you have made sure it continues, and that's the restoration of our green tree reservoirs in Arkansas. Arkansas, like I said, known as the duck hunting capital of the world. And what people come here is to kill mallards really, in flooded timber because that's the kind of habitat they don't get on the coast in a lot of other places.
And yet what we had done by flooding this timber for too long is we had killed out the beneficial oaks, if you will, the kinds that produce acorns that a duck can eat, been replaced with oaks, willows, button brush, other overcupped vegetation. Overcupp. Yeah, it's just not as nutritious for ducks. And it took again, changing the culture, knowing that in certain wildlife management areas there were going to be certain new restrictions. Seasons were going to change, flooding cycles were going to change. I mean, it is a huge project. But duck hunting in Arkansas itself is a major industry. I mean, several million dollars a day economic impact during that 60 day season. And I think it would be fair to say, Doug, in the Game and Fish Commission, I love history too, and I've written a lot about its history and it's got a long, colorful history, but this is the biggest, most extensive project the commission's ever taken on in its history.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: No doubt about it. You know, our forefathers who started the Green Tree reservoir things kind of did it by accident. They were holding water for irrigation.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: And all of a sudden they figured out the ducks like that water too, and what was in it.
And they didn't, they didn't know. They did what they thought was the right thing to do. And what we've learned in generations is that you've got to get water off those trees sooner so that they can regenerate some of Those little acorns can turn into baby trees and old story will die off, new story will come up.
And, you know, with modern science, we've come to the forefront of understanding that. And I really appreciate the columns you've written that.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: That speak on behalf of the green tree reservoirs. They're voiceless, but yet everybody hears them.
Because anybody you run into in any state and you talk about duck hunting, they ask about hunting in the timber.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: It is the mecca for timber hunting. And believe me, having been the president of Ducks Unlimited, I'm acutely aware of that.
But it's a long game to get it restored. This is a long game. We are working to get water on and off public lands quicker.
We are trying to get a better growing season opportunity for young trees so they can get ahead and be able to tolerate being flooded. And that's, That's a long game. And in the meantime, we have trees that continue to die off and canopy dies. And, you know, a big old oak tree that ducks used to feed under years ago dies slowly for a while, then it dies quickly. And some of the signs, you know, we know the, all the signs and we can, we can understand those on what that life cycle that tree is going to be. And so we have a really good inventory of all of our wildlife management areas. We have all of our flooded timber cordoned off in, in, in. In four acre sections.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: We have, I want to say, 75,000 of them.
And we know what trees grow in that four acres. We have that gridded.
We know the health of those trees, we know what species they are. So that gives us a good guideline on how we need to go in and restore some of these forests. And it's important to do. Yeah, it's also important to start new patches, you know, that may not be adjacent to a wma, but they might be on private lands and to try to solidify something for generations to come.
You know, you and I will never see the benefit of what we're doing in timber forest right now, but future generations will. And that's going to be important to the, to the heritage of waterfowling, and it's going to be important to the, to the state of Arkansas as well.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Well, again, as I said, whether you hunt or not, it's just such an important part of our culture, really, really who we are as Arkansans.
I'm very fortunate in, in this job that I.
Because I love writing about the history of waterfowl hunting in Arkansas. I love writing about the History of some of our world famous clubs that are here in the state. So I can get some invites. But I've got to tell you, Doug, I've reached that age. I'm a terrible shot, for starters, But I have reached that great age where if I'm going to a famous hole somewhere, I'm more likely to take this legal pad and a pen than I am a shotgun. Because I want to get every note just right when I write about that, but still enjoy it just as much. And it always. When I'm sitting in one of these famous places, it always hits me that there are people all over this country who were like I was as a boy. I mean, I grew up reading Outdoor Life and Sports, Field and Field and Stream, that have grown up reading about hunting in the timber of Arkansas.
And it's their dream to come here and we get to live among it. How blessed are we. People all over the country dream of coming to Arkansas to hunt.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: It is. And it's. And even, even now, today, when I go to storied places to hunt, or if I'm just hunting in public, and I do a lot of public hunting, there's many times, Rex, where I don't raise my gun. I want to watch it.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Because you know, when you duck hunt, you find that one bird and you don't see what's going on around you. If you don't raise your gun and you just watch, you learn a whole lot about the ducks, other hunters, and you have a full different appreciation of the pageantry of timber hunting.
And yet when I'm at a nice club that's got a heritage, a storied hole, it's fun to sit there on a bench or not raise your gun and realize the legacy of the people before you. Yeah. And just it's. It's amazing. I've been fortunate to hunt at Beaver Dam. I've hunted with Bo Whoop Nash Buckingham's gun, and I've killed a duck with that gun.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: And that's one of the most greatest memories I'll ever have of duck hunting. And I killed one duck with it.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: But still, what. I mean, it was. It was scary to hold it.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Oh, I bet.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: And to be in that hallowed ground.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: I bet it's kind of like this in duck hunting. This is staying.
I spent the night in the main house a few years ago to do a story at Wingmead, which of course is one of the most famous duck clubs in the world, started by Edgar monsanto, Queenie of St. Louis.
But they had me sleep in the main house and in there they've got what I think is one of three full collections of every federal duck stamp print. Du's got one. I forget who has the third one. But I could not sleep. It wasn't that I was getting up early. I'm used to getting up early.
But it was like sleeping in a museum. You talk about it and it's kind of like sitting in those holes. You realize what a great heritage we've got in this state.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: It is. You know, that thing was started back in the 30s.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: And that has paid for pretty much all the national wildlife refuges that, you know. We have one of the largest ones in the White River National Refuge right here in Arkansas.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Oh, exactly.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: And you know, I don't know that enough. Folks know the importance of the federal migratory bird stamp. We call it the duck stamp. But you know, there's a lot of birding activity, a lot of fishing, a lot of wildlife watching that happens at refuges by folks who don't really understand what the federal migratory bird stamp does.
And it supports all of those activities as well.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of world class, we've got world class trout fishing. Of course, not native, but as most Arkansans know, the history, it started as mitigation. When the Corps of Engineers began building the large impoundments around the state in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, they had cold water releases and that cold water killed out the natural smallmouth bass, largemouth bass right below the dam. So as mitigation, they started stocking trout and they found out they liked the Arkansas waters, had the world record brown here for a number of years. But some of the greatest trout waters in the world, in fact. Talk about people growing up wanting to come to Arkansas. I love telling the story that a friend told me because I'm so pro Arkansas. But I had a friend who big fly fisherman and you know, he watched River Runs through it movie over and over and had always wanted to go to Montana.
And so he saves up and he goes out there and the first morning he meets his guide and the guide says, where are you from?
And he said, Arkansas. And the guide said, what the heck are you doing here? The best trout fishing in the country's in Arkansas.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: It's a huge industry and it supports gas stations and restaurants and hotels and guides and bait shops.
And the resource is so special.
And you know, it's had some problems in recent years.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: I was going to mention we had a huge die off at the Norfolk Federal Fish hatchery, your state hatchery for trout. The Hinkle near Mammoth Spring. Flooded, awful flood.
I'd been there just actually a month or so before that flood.
And so you have had to institute new limits. But I found I was recently up at Stetson's on the Upper White river and a group of our college buddies always get together the first weekend in May there. We usually have trout on Saturday this year because of the two trout limit.
One of my buddies brought crappie and I love crappie, so that doesn't matter.
That was fun. But I have found that most true trout fishermen understand and they know this is temporary and are very supportive of what you're doing.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: I agree. I think that for the most part trout fishermen and even people who keep trout to eat, I think they realize the importance of the habitat.
You don't catch trout in muddy, dirty water.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: You catch trout in clear, cold water.
And you know, I think for. By and large, you know, we went to a no catch, no keep for a little while there a couple months when we first had the failure at the Norfolk Hatchery and we realized our winter stockings were really going to go down.
And then I think we've upped the creel now to two and with some. With some slot limits or slot length limits.
And we're not getting a lot of pushback from the guide service.
And actually I think we're getting some pretty good comments from guides that say the fisheries improving.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: They told us business has been good this year. People are still coming from all over the nation like they typically do.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: We still have to fix it, though. There's.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: You know, the. The Hinkle Hatchery is below a dam that creates an oxygenated water that's good for us to use for hatchery. But you know, when you have a hatchery below a dam that those two things don't go well in the same sentence.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: And then the Norfolk Hatchery is.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: And the Hinkle Hatchery literally sits on an island. So it is very, very susceptible to flooding in the spring or ever thing.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Y. Yeah. So I think we have to embark on a new cold water strategy, and I think we are.
The Norfolk Hatchery is going to require significant investment to get it right.
And I know that the feds are looking at it. I know that some of our legislators have been up there and looked at it. And I know that the director of Fish and Wildlife Service is kind of is highly aware of it.
However, that doesn't fix the lake where the water comes from.
You have to Fix the water that comes from the lake. And that's expensive. And so, you know, we're talking with the feds, we're talking with a lot of folks, corps of engineers, about what's a good cold water strategy for the people of Arkansas and the rivers of Arkansas.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: And it's a long game as well. We don't throw something up in a year or two.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Anytime you try to do anything for mother Nature, it takes a little bit longer.
And that's true with the fish acre as well.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: A couple other things I want to get to. I knew we were going to run out of time way too fast. I'll have to have you back. I won't wait a year this next time. But another major project that you inherited, but that is ongoing is the Lake Conway restoration. Of course, so many people drive down Interstate 40 and they were well aware of it because they look out there and they see all that grass growing up. And let me tell you, that grass is a good thing because when that water comes back up, man, what habitat that is going to provide for fish. But so many firsts at the Arkansas Commission. A lot of Arkansans may not know that Lake Conway was the largest reservoir ever constructed by a state conservation organization very famous for fishing. At one time it silted in. There was a lot of junk in the lake. And it was just time. And I know that's been tough because a lot of people live around that lake, but it was time. It's a multi year process.
And I'm one of those who think as I look out from the interstate and slow down a little bit and not only see that grass, but can see all the fish structures that have been put out there, that it's going to end up being a great thing for the fishing habitat.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: It's going to finish ahead of time and under budget.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: That's great. And don't hear that much, especially from,
[00:29:22] Speaker B: you know, from agfc, Right? Yeah. But it still is our largest impoundment. And a lot of fish structures. We gained about 8 to 12 inches of soil compaction.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: You know, by drying it out, it, you know, if it, if it has any semblance to Poinsett or white oak, that we've done as well. That fishery is going to be amazing.
Thousands of structures have gone in it. The dam is under construction right now. We pulled 100,000 pounds of trash out of that lake.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Good golly.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: And it's going to be, it's really going to be good. And the folks around the lake. The folks in Conway have been very patient. We've had a few public meetings.
They've gone from a lot of questions asked to now a lot of understanding gained and I can't wait for it to come online. The dam is. Dam construction is complete. The well, the main spillway is complete. The auxiliary spillway is still under construction. But I think, I think we're supposed to finish that by the end of 28. I think we're going to be wrapping that sucker up in 27.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Oh, that's great news. That's great news. And the other exciting thing about that, and I've written before is that you really could have a world class fish hatchery that is in the middle of the largest metropolitan area in the state. And not many states can say that, you know, our biggest metro area and yet we've got world class fishing right in the middle of it.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: And you know we're. We've just converted the Camp Robinson special use area over to now which will be called the Conway Wildlife Management area. So we're expanding public opportunity. The lake's going to have great public opportunity. Yeah. And that lake sits within such a proximity of so many people.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: So we're.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: This metro area has almost 800,000 people in it.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Ready for a lot of use.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it really should. And before we close you, you were nice enough to have me a few weeks ago over to the Joe Hogan fish hatchery which again talking about first for many years was the largest fish hatchery ever built by a state conservation there organization. But the Lunker program, and this is some of you have read about it where people that caught big bass 10 pounds or above could call in game and fish personnel, man the phone 24 hours a day. They would get them in breeding them with Florida strain lunker. And I got to see, I got to see a lot of those big bass and. And got to see the spawn and it was exciting because this is an exciting program for, for bass fishermen.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: You know, it's revolutionary. We're taking big mamas that are.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: And they're beautiful. Let me tell you. I so enjoyed that day.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: And then we're mixing them with actually with the. I think it's the titan bass.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Which are big daddies.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: 10 pound plus.
And we are now the moms are going back to their lakes. The anglers are taking them back. They spawned and you.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: And the commission allows the person who caught the fish to take it back. Right.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: They have an option to go back and let it Go. And they can let it go where they caught it if they want to.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: So we have DNA on them. We know who those fish are. We took in 19, we spawned 12. We have hundreds of thousands that spawn on station now at Hogan, and those spawn will be released back to their home lakes as well, where their mamas came from.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: And so it's. It's going to put Arkansas on the map in a much bigger way for trophy bass opportunity.
We're excited about it.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So much going on. I. We've about run through our time here. What. What am I leaving out? I know there's a lot else going on. Doug, anything else you wanted to particularly hit on? No.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: I appreciate all the public support.
I really appreciate the passion of so many outdoorsmen. And what I like about it.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It is a passion, let me tell you.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: And, you know, I like folks not being afraid to tell us what they think.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: That's important for us to listen to them. And some of it's. Some of it's argumentative, some of it's not, but we listen to all of it. And it's important for folks to know that, you know, there's not a person in that building or that works for AGFC that doesn't like to hunt and fish as well. Yeah.
We're in the same passion field that our public is in, and we want to get outside and we want to enjoy the outdoors, and we want to make it a better place for everybody to do it. And that's our goal, and that's what we're working on.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Yeah. I'll close with this. And I know you run into them across the state, too, but you got to be a certain age because to say this, but I'm an old bird hunter. I can remember when quail populations were heavy in the state and the 70s, the 80s, before that downhill slide took place.
And, you know, my dream again is, while I'm still able to walk, maybe one day to have another good hunt of wild quail in Arkansas, which I haven't done in many years. But, Doug, I wanted to thank the commission there because I know that project is long term. I mean, we're talking the long game here. And I know, and I've been out with some of these biologists. I know it's very frustrating because they work hard. It's hard to reestablish populations. But thank you for the work you're doing on quail habitat restoration around the state, too. I know that's another major effort.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: It's a big deal. And, you know, are we ever going to make Arkansas the mecca of quail hunting that it once was? Probably not. It is a long game, but I have an affinity for quail. My 4H project when I was in Freud's was propagation of quail.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:35:05] Speaker B: So I don't know those little buggers for a long time. And to work with our quail biologists, who I've gotten a wealth of education from, and know their dedication and the type of habitat that we need, we're working in that direction and trying to get a native population of wild birds back here in the state.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you, Doug. Thanks for all you're doing. I'll get you back on. Hopefully, maybe in five or six months we can update on some things.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Thank you, Rex. I've enjoyed being here.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: All right. Doug Schoenrock is the director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
You've been listening to the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
