The presentation for the Steve Smith Spirit of Giving Award goes to the Arkansas Master Naturalists. This dedicated statewide network of volunteers actively contributes to the preservation and appreciation of Arkansas’s natural environment. Through education, community outreach, habitat restoration, citizen science, and trail maintenance, they serve as vital guardians, inspiring environmental stewardship for current and future generations.
A true embodiment of traditional conservation, Kennon has profoundly shaped Arkansas’s paddling community. His influential guidebooks, safety training initiatives with the Arkansas Canoe Club, support for river clean-up efforts, and stunning landscape photography have fostered a deep appreciation for and accessibility to the state’s waterways.
Her impactful leadership in forming and collaborating with the Union County Water Conservation Board enabled Johnson and a coalition of state and local leaders to address the critical groundwater decline in the Sparta Aquifer, then the county’s only source of drinking and industrial water. This solution-driven initiative led to an alternative source of industrial water from the Ouachita River, significantly reducing reliance on the rapidly declining Sparta and leading to its documented recovery, demonstrating a powerful model for innovative groundwater conservation that restored the natural resource and ultimately benefits the long-term health of the ecosystem and associated wildlife habitats.
As the driving force behind Visit Hot Springs, Arrison strategically leveraged the region’s lakes to attract major professional bass fishing tournaments. His efforts have not only boosted the city’s profile but also provided Arkansans with unparalleled access to high-level competitive angling, fostering broader engagement and appreciation for the sport.
The Legacy Award will be posthumously presented to Andy Simmons, a lifelong outdoor enthusiast who made history when he named the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation in his estate, resulting in one of the largest single gifts ever received by AGFF. As a lasting tribute, the Foundation turned the gifted property into the Andy Simmons Outdoor Skills Farm, which opened in October 2023, as a way of perpetuating Andy’s legacy of conservation and outdoor recreation to future generations of Arkansans.
The Mayfly Project was founded in 2015 in Arkansas by Jess and Laura Westbrook, with the vision of using fly fishing as an important tool to support children in foster care. In 2016, the project evolved into a national program when Jess and Laura partnered with Idaho-based mental health professional Kaitlin Barnhart, who shared the same passion for helping children heal through fly fishing. Together they developed the National TMP program. The Mayfly Project’s mission is to support youth in foster care through fly fishing, helping them build confidence, find healing, and connect to their local waters.
Lochmann has been a professor of Fisheries Management and Ecology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for 30 years. Dr. Lochman’s teaching and research efforts have produced many biologists for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Fisheries Division as well as AGFC Chief of Staff Chris Racey and Deputy Director Ben Batten. In 2016, he was recognized with the Joe Hogan Award for outstanding leadership and strong commitment to Arkansas’s fisheries and aquatic resources by the Arkansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.
Daniel is the executive director of Darby’s Warrior Support, providing a lifeline for countless post-9/11 Special Operations combat veterans dealing with the physical and emotional aftermath of their service to the nation. DWS delivers all-inclusive Arkansas hunting and fishing opportunities in a safe environment fulfilling its mission of giving back to these heroes by giving them a place to heal with camaraderie and Understanding.
A lifelong outdoorsman and well-known entrepreneur, Ronquest has helped develop two of the mid-South’s Arkansas’s most iconic outdoor brands. Following a long and distinguished career with Rich-N-Tone duck calls of Stuttgart, he’s now vice president, development with Mississippi-based Drake Waterfowl, a manufacturer of technical hunting and fishing apparel. Ronquest also won the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest in 2006.
Both country kids from Missouri, Larry and Brenda Potterfield turned their passion for shooting sports into a career by opening a small gun shop in 1977 that would eventually become MidwayUSA (midwayusa.com). Built on family values like honesty, integrity and respect for others, they strive to maintain this culture with each employee added to their growing team. They take a similar approach in their philanthropic efforts through the MidwayUSA Foundation, established in 2007 to provide sustainable funding to youth shooting sports teams across the nation.