LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission tendered his resignation Thursday at the commission’s monthly meeting.
Director Austin Booth has been a director since 2021. His resignation will be effective January 4, 2025, when he will transition to independent.
Helicopters drop rocks for the Lake Conway habitat program, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Booth said he wanted to be able to devote more time to his family and allow someone else to take the reins of the organization and its conservation efforts.
“I want to thank my wife and my children and my mother and father and my father-in-law … for keeping me grounded, for their encouragement and dedication to my success,” Booth said. “It’s been an amazing three and a half years and I have no one to thank more than my family.”
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission dedicates a water-control structure on Glaise Creek
Chairman of the AGFC Commission, JD Neeley thanked Booth for his work and dedication.
“On behalf of the other commissioners and staff of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, I want to thank Austin Booth, our director, for the last three and a half years of dedication to the Commission and to the people of the great state of Arkansas,” Neeley said in a statement. “There is a proverb that says, ‘Steel sharpens steel.’ His leadership has taken on a team of skilled workers and has strengthened our ability to put housing and people first. “
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courtesy Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
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courtesy Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
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courtesy Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
During Booth’s tenure, officials said he oversaw the restoration of the commission’s greentree reservoirs, important for duck hunting, the reconstruction of the Craig D. Campbell Lake Conway Reservoir, the first stocking of Titan Maxx bass in a public area, the expansion of the state’s bear season and the promotion of private land development.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission plan to open private waters to anglers
The president also hoped to break up the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports, Archery in the Schools and AGFC Shooting Range programs into an independent sector.
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