Following his innovative Arkansas River trip in 1996, a campaign for the conservation sales tax, he has taken the lead on programs like Hooked on Fishing – Not on Drugs, and the Youth and Senior’s Fishing Pond in urban Little Rock.
HALL OF FAME
Mary Klaser – 2000
Her public service career was suddenly cut short, but not until after she had successfully handled the nuts and bolts of the conservation sales tax campaign, making Arkansas the second state to have solid funding for conservation efforts.
Chick Major – 1999
As the central figure in duck calling for years, Major transformed duck call manufacturing from home workshops to a significant business. His calls set a standard. The World Duck Calling Championships at Stuttgart have members of his family throughout its lists of winners.
Carol Griffee – 1999
Her intense and all-sides reporting covered controversial and heated issues of the outdoors in the 1970s and 1980s. Environmental issues at the Game and Fish Commission, the Department of Pollution Control and Ecology and the legislature were Griffee’s beat at the Arkansas Gazette.
Dr. James H. Flanagin – 1998
Dr. James H. Flanagin was instrumental in creating Lake Conway, leading efforts in the late 1940s to secure land and funding for the 6,700-acre lake. His persistence and community support brought the project to life in 1951, making Lake Conway the largest lake ever built by a state and a lasting showcase for Arkansas anglers.
U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers – 1998
A resurgence of Arkansas state parks was a legacy of his two terms as governor. Channeling vital lands into public ownership came with his years in the U.S. Senate, with national forests and national wildlife refuges getting major additions.
Rayo Breckenridge – 1998
A Greene County farmer who enjoyed fishing, he won the BASS Masters Classic in his first season as an angling professional. He developed an outdoors television program, with the teaching of fishing to young people a priority.
Bob Apple – 1998
A longtime leader of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation and a staff member of the National Wildlife Federation, he has promoted wise uses of natural resources since the 1950s.
Gene Rush – 1997
A wildlife biologist, he was a hands-on participant in the restoration of Arkansas’s deer, bear and turkey populations. He pushed for acquisition of critical lands for state management areas as the Game and Fish Commission’s wildlife chief.
Cotton Cordell – 1997
He grew up at a fishing resort, learning the need for more and better equipment and especially the knowledge of using it. His first lures were assembled at a kitchen table, then his company became a major lure manufacturer.