03-21-2007, 10:10 PM
HAZEN - Commissioners from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission today officially named the Mike Freeze Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area to honor the past chairman of the commission. Freeze completed his seven-year term on the commission in 2006. He is the only former AGFC employee ever to be appointed to the Commission.
During Freeze's term on the commission, one of the many major projects fueled by Amendment 75 funds was a series of four nature centers. The Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff opened in July 2001 at a cost of about $5 million. Designed to resemble a Delta hunting lodge, the building covers 13,000 square feet and is surrounded by 130 acres near the Arkansas River. It's packed with interactive exhibits, live fish and reptiles, meeting rooms, a working laboratory for students and a gift shop.
The Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro opened in August 2004. Its three levels include 17,000 square feet on 160 acres of prairie and woodlands, plus a pond. The $5.2 million project features exhibits that reveal the natural forces that formed the 200-mile-long ridge and native wildlife, ranging from large game animals to small insects.
Those two are just for starters; the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith opened in 2006. It is built on 170 acres of typical Arkansas River Valley land. It includes representations of the Ouachita and Ozark mountains. The center also includes a life-size post oak with automated and mounted animals in and around it. Kiosks and panels help visitors understand mammals, birds and fish. One corner lined with windows allows visitors to watch for wildlife attracted to feeders and a circulating stream outside the center.
The final jewel in the conservation education crown, the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock, is now under construction.
There were also numerous land purchases that occurred during Freeze's tenure. Late in 2001, the AGFC purchased the 9,000-acre Choctaw Island WMA in Desha County for $1.4 million with the rest of the $4.5 million tab being picked up by matching federal funds. Choctaw Island is the only public land inside the levees of the Mississippi River in Arkansas.
The AGFC and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are restoring native vegetation and returning waters to their natural flows on Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek WMA in White County. Its 4,194 acres were bought for $1.5 million in 2000. The area is home to thousands of wintering waterfowl each year.
Seven Devils Swamp WMA in Drew County was enlarged by 3,445 acres at a cost of $1.3 million. Seven Devils is part of a 6,000-acre swamp with good fishing and waterfowl hunting.
During the ceremony, Freeze said he had fond memories of Wattensaw. "I can remember racing over here from the Lonoke Hatchery so that I could get in my deer stand trying to get one before it got dark," Freeze said.
Freeze operates Keo Fish Farms at Keo, just north of England and a few miles southeast of Little Rock.
Freeze graduated in 1975 from Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in fisheries and wildlife management. He received a master's degree in biology in 1977 from Murray State University in Kentucky.
During Freeze's term on the commission, one of the many major projects fueled by Amendment 75 funds was a series of four nature centers. The Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff opened in July 2001 at a cost of about $5 million. Designed to resemble a Delta hunting lodge, the building covers 13,000 square feet and is surrounded by 130 acres near the Arkansas River. It's packed with interactive exhibits, live fish and reptiles, meeting rooms, a working laboratory for students and a gift shop.
The Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro opened in August 2004. Its three levels include 17,000 square feet on 160 acres of prairie and woodlands, plus a pond. The $5.2 million project features exhibits that reveal the natural forces that formed the 200-mile-long ridge and native wildlife, ranging from large game animals to small insects.
Those two are just for starters; the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith opened in 2006. It is built on 170 acres of typical Arkansas River Valley land. It includes representations of the Ouachita and Ozark mountains. The center also includes a life-size post oak with automated and mounted animals in and around it. Kiosks and panels help visitors understand mammals, birds and fish. One corner lined with windows allows visitors to watch for wildlife attracted to feeders and a circulating stream outside the center.
The final jewel in the conservation education crown, the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock, is now under construction.
There were also numerous land purchases that occurred during Freeze's tenure. Late in 2001, the AGFC purchased the 9,000-acre Choctaw Island WMA in Desha County for $1.4 million with the rest of the $4.5 million tab being picked up by matching federal funds. Choctaw Island is the only public land inside the levees of the Mississippi River in Arkansas.
The AGFC and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are restoring native vegetation and returning waters to their natural flows on Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek WMA in White County. Its 4,194 acres were bought for $1.5 million in 2000. The area is home to thousands of wintering waterfowl each year.
Seven Devils Swamp WMA in Drew County was enlarged by 3,445 acres at a cost of $1.3 million. Seven Devils is part of a 6,000-acre swamp with good fishing and waterfowl hunting.
During the ceremony, Freeze said he had fond memories of Wattensaw. "I can remember racing over here from the Lonoke Hatchery so that I could get in my deer stand trying to get one before it got dark," Freeze said.
Freeze operates Keo Fish Farms at Keo, just north of England and a few miles southeast of Little Rock.
Freeze graduated in 1975 from Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in fisheries and wildlife management. He received a master's degree in biology in 1977 from Murray State University in Kentucky.