Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (Agfc), a U.S. state government entity headquartered in Little Rock, operates as a federal grant recipient delivering fish and wildlife conservation, restoration, and public recreation services across Arkansas. The Commission is 100% prime recipient on its federal footprint (99% of 559 recent awards) and does not compete for federal contracts; instead, it receives formula grants and project grants from federal agencies to execute state wildlife management mandates.

Agfc's federal work centers on four concrete capability areas. First, it operates and maintains 132 wildlife management areas (WMAs) across the state—including habitat enhancement, infrastructure maintenance, and public access management—under annual Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education grants (CFDA 15.611). Second, it operates sport fish hatcheries and net pen facilities to culture and stock sport fish species to meet fisheries management objectives, funded under Sport Fish Restoration (CFDA 15.605). Third, it delivers hunter and recreational shooter education and safety training through volunteer instructor recruitment, school-based archery programs (Arkansas National Archery in the Schools Program), and youth shooting sports coaching. Fourth, it conducts wildlife disease research, monitoring, and surveillance—particularly for chronic wasting disease (CWD) management in white-tailed deer and elk—and invasive aquatic species control, including removal of invasive carp from Arkansas and lower Mississippi river basins.

The Commission's customer base is dominated by the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. DOI FWS Region 4 and DOI FWS collectively account for 97% of awards (499 of 555 prime grants). Remaining customers include the U.S. Coast Guard (20 awards under Boating Safety Financial Assistance, CFDA 97.012), the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (19 awards on chronic wasting disease cooperative agreements and research), and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (7 awards on Farm Bill private lands technical assistance, CFDA 10.902). Representative recent work includes a $10.7 million Wildlife Restoration grant (FY 2025) for WMA infrastructure maintenance and habitat management; a $4.0 million Sport Fish Restoration grant (FY 2026) for fish hatchery operations; a $1.812 million Boating Safety Financial Assistance formula grant (FY 2025–2028) for state recreational boating safety; a $10 million Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance project grant (FY 2023–2027) for fish hatchery facility design and construction; and a $2.25 million National Fish Passage Program grant (FY 2024–2027) for removing stream crossing barriers in the Robinson Creek watershed to restore aquatic habitat connectivity.

Activity has remained relatively flat over the past five years (34–39 awards annually) with a slight uptick in 2024. Twenty-three awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing routine annual recompete cycles for formula grants under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act framework. Agfc issues sub-awards to academic partners (University of Arkansas, Missouri State University, Colorado State University, Arkansas Tech University, University of Tennessee) for specialized research—such as chronic wasting disease prion contamination studies, freshwater mussel propagation, and species distributional surveys—and to conservation nonprofits including The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever, and Quail Forever for habitat restoration and prescribed burn implementation. As a state agency, Agfc does not pursue federal contracts, GWACs, or vehicle-based task order opportunities; its federal relationship is anchored entirely in formula and project grant funding for wildlife conservation delivery.