Earn up to $10,000 for Wildlife Enhancements on Your Land
Date: February 1, 2024
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has launched a one-year pilot project to improve wildlife habitat through partnerships with landowners statewide. The new Conservation Incentive Program offers up to $10,000 in reimbursements for approved conservation efforts.
Funded through the Farm Bill, this $3.5 million initiative builds on existing cost-share programs, with a sharp focus on wildlife and fisheries.
“With roughly 10 percent of Arkansas in public ownership, we are limited in what we can accomplish on a landscape level on public lands,” AGFC Director Austin Booth said. “Even if we get everything we manage in picture-perfect condition, we’re still missing 90 percent of Arkansas. That’s where the Conservation Incentive Program comes in.”
The program supports nine conservation practices on private lands, offering diverse ways to improve habitat.
According to Michelle Furr, coordinator for AGFC’s Private Lands Habitat Division, “Programs range from invasive species control focused on aquatic and terrestrial plants and feral hogs, to providing wetland habitat for wintering waterfowl. Forest management practices such as prescribed fire and wildlife stand improvements through thinning the forest canopy and allowing light to penetrate the forest floor are also a large component of the program.”
Additional efforts include improving water quality in streams and offering public fishing access on privately managed waters.
“The agency is also offering practices to improve water quality in streams and provide public fishing opportunities on privately controlled waters,” Furr said. “We know most landowners would do more to manage for wildlife if they had the financial means to do so, and this program strikes at the heart of that barrier. Couple this with our increased number of private lands biologists around the state, and we are gearing up to really hit another gear in habitat management in the state, walking side-by-side with our greatest group of conservation allies: fellow Arkansans. Our biologists across the agency are geared to help landowners formulate data-informed management plans for habitat on their property and guide them in finding the means to implement the practices.”
View a list of practices and application instructions at: https://bit.ly/AGFC-PL2024
Applications are reviewed in the order received, and funds distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Funding runs through December 31, 2024.