The third edition of the Arkansas Quail Conservation Stamp is available for purchase through any Arkansas Game and Fish Commission license vendor and at www.agfc.com/license.
This year's stamp, available for $9.50, was developed in partnership with Historic Cane Hill, Inc. John P. Lasater IV, an artist from Siloam Springs, created the image of quail flushing from an oak savanna at Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center near Fort Smith for this year's image.
Oak savannas are grasslands with a few scattered trees that provide exceptional habitat for Northern bobwhites, songbirds, monarch butterflies and a host of pollinator species.
Staff at Fort Chaffee, along with Game and Fish, implement prescribed fire on the training center on a 3-5 year rotation to maintain this habitat in many portions of the 66,000-acre complex. Prescribed fire not only sets back woody sprouts from trees, but varying the prescribed fire timing creates diverse plant species composition that equates to diverse wildlife populations that use these plants for food and cover.
The Arkansas Quail Conservation Stamp is not required to hunt or fish any game in Arkansas. It was developed under the advice of former Commissioner Steve Cook of Malvern. Revenue from the sale of bobwhite stamps funds habitat restoration projects in priority areas of the state and research efforts to develop strategies to increase Northern bobwhites on Arkansas's landscape.
Sales from the first two editions of the stamp have totaled more than $103,000, with a net profit of $65,500. This money is combined with sales from Arkansas' voluntary turkey stamp and used as a match with grant money to fund habitat work across the state.