AGFC gives more than $690,000 from fines for education grants through the Division of Rural Services

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in Little Rock voted unanimously Thursday to grant $690,625 to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services to distribute as conservation education grants for schools during the 2026-27 school year. The money was derived from all wildlife and boating violation fines collected in the state.

“More than $536,000 was collected last year, and an additional $154,500 was left unused from schools last year, but it also came from fine money in previous years,” Kyle Curry, the AGFC’s Customer Experience Section lead, said at the Commission’s monthly meeting.

According to Curry, the AGFC does not keep any money derived from wildlife fines. Instead, that money is collected from each county and then returned to the schools in that county through the Division of Rural Services.

“They administer grants for conservation education programs, such as Fishing in the Natural State, Project WILD, Archery in the Schools, and educator workshops and field trips to nature centers, hatcheries and other facilities focused on conservation in Arkansas,” Curry said. “The idea behind these grants is to educate the next generation about how conservation works, so that they will hopefully be less likely to violate regulations that are there to protect our natural resources, and maybe even inspire some young people to take on the responsibility to be the next generation of conservation stewards and leave Arkansas’s outdoors better than they found it.”

One school that benefited from such grants was in attendance at the meeting. Members of Magnet Cove High School’s archery team traveled to Little Rock to be formally recognized for their outstanding accomplishments at the National Archery in the Schools tournaments this year. The team, which took first place in the Bullseye and 3-D competitions at the state championships in March, placed third in the 3-D competition at nationals and 18th in the Bullseye discipline at the same event. They went on to take third place in the Bullseye competition and second in the 3-D competition at the World Championships in June at Daytona Beach, Florida.

Kimberly Farber, Magnet Cove’s head coach, said she was impressed by the dedication the students showed throughout the tournament year, and noted that the school was only in its second year of incorporating the archery program into their high school.

“They’re a young team that really put their hearts into it,” Farber said. “They practiced at least twice a week, and they took first place in every tournament they participated in on their path to nationals and [world championship].”

In addition to their archery accomplishments, members of the team noted that participation in Archery in the Schools gave them a richer school experience.

Ellie Sowell, a student on the Magnet Cove team, said she was very shy and probably could count her friends on one hand before she joined the archery team.

“Most of these people on the team, I would have never talked to otherwise. I would have probably just sat in the corner, ate my lunch quietly and went home,” she said. “But archery has allowed me to meet so many new people, no matter how pleasant or rude they were. It’s allowed me to learn restraint, patience and overall just how to talk to someone you’ve never met.”

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