AGFC makes major land acquisition

A major land acquisition by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has been named for its former chairman, Sonny Varnell of St. Paul (Madison County).

The commissioners took the action at their Thursday meeting in Little Rock.

The tract is 2,761 acres in Searcy County, purchased in 2007 for $8,294,500 from the Cash family. It is along Richland Creek near its mouth at the Buffalo River. Varnell was a leader in the negotiations leading up to the purchase and has had a strong interest of Arkansas elk, which live in the Buffalo River country.

The tract now is officially the Sonny Varnell Richland Valley Elk Conservation Area. It is attached to the AGFC's Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area.

The area bought last year is being converted from pasturage for cattle to wildlife habitat, with elk a major focus. One objective is to create more range for elk and possibly entice them off private lands in Searcy County where some landowners object to their presence.

The Arkansas elk have changed their areas somewhat since they were brought into the state beginning in 1981.

In the first years, the elk lived from Ponca to the Carver area along the river. They moved upstream to Boxley Valley, where they have become a year-round attraction for visitors, and they moved downstream past Gene Rush WMA into Searcy County.

Recent limited hunting seasons have produced numerous elk from Gene Rush WMA and lesser numbers form the other areas, with Boxley continued to be closed to hunting.

In other elk issues, the commissioners again agreed to donate two elk hunting permits for the 2009 season to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for fundraising activities, with 85 percent of the proceeds to be returned to AGFC for elk projects.

Doyle Shook, AGFC chief of wildlife management, reported to the commissioners on development of a special private land hunt for elk in Searcy County. This is scheduled for five days, Jan. 12-16, with hunters required to obtain written permission from a landowner before purchasing a $35 permit that allows them to take one elk. There is a quota of seven either-sex elk for this hunt.

In another action, the commissioners approved $25,000 for its Legal Division for additional costs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for damages on the Dave Donaldson Black River WMA in Clay and Randolph counties in northeast Arkansas. Testimony in the trial has finished, with a judge's decision not expected before late spring or summer, according to James Goodheart, AGFC's chief legal counsel.

The commissioners also earmarked another $250,000 to its Education and Outreach Division for more activities with youth shooting sports in schools and for archery instruction in schools. Both programs are growing rapidly, said Lucy Moreland, chief of the division.