07-15-2008, 11:10 AM
LITTLE ROCK - Sonny Varnell may have served a shortened term on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, but during his tenure he became part of a number of programs and projects that defined the AGFC. The retired engineer from St. Paul was appointed to fill the remaining term of former commissioner Bill Ackerman. Gov. Mike Huckabee appointed Varnell to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 2003.
<br>During Varnell's time on the commission, the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program was one of the more popular programs. In its initial year, some 900 students signed up to take part in the program. This year that number grew to 2,400 students.<br>
<br>As vice-chairman of the commission, Varnell was on hand as the announcement was made in 2007 that Arkansans would have a new wildlife management area in Calhoun County. The new Moro Big Pine WMA is part of a conservation easement several state agencies and The Nature Conservancy purchased from one of the state's largest timber companies. Covering about 16,000 acres, it is the largest conservation easement ever established in Arkansas.<br>
<br>During Varnell's shortened term on the commission, the crowning achievement of the many major projects fueled by Amendment 75 funds may be the series of four nature centers that have been completed or are presently under construction. The Gov. Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff opened in July 2001 followed by the Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro that opened in August 2004. The Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center near Fort Smith opened in August 2006. The groundbreaking for the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock was held in June 2006. The facility, situated along the Arkansas River near the Riverfront Amphitheatre in downtown Little Rock, is scheduled to open later this year.<br>
<br>One event during Varnell's term took on international significance. In 2004 the ivory-billed woodpecker was found not to be extinct, but living in Arkansas.<br>
<br>A half-century of futile searching and much speculation by scientists ended with a news conference in Washington, D.C., announcing that the spectacular woodpecker had been found living in an eastern Arkansas swamp.<br>
<br>The news spread rapidly across the nation and to foreign countries. The last documented sighting of an ivory-billed was in Cuba in 1987. The last confirmed sighting in the United States was in 1944, according to the Audubon Society.<br>
<br>The several sightings in Arkansas have been mostly in an area north of Brinkley near the Cache River and Bayou DeView.<br>
<br>Many of the sightings have been within the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, and access to the area where the bird or birds have been seen is now restricted, with only researchers allowed. The woodpecker has also been seen in the adjoining Dagmar Wildlife Management Area of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
<br>During Varnell's time on the commission, the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program was one of the more popular programs. In its initial year, some 900 students signed up to take part in the program. This year that number grew to 2,400 students.<br>
<br>As vice-chairman of the commission, Varnell was on hand as the announcement was made in 2007 that Arkansans would have a new wildlife management area in Calhoun County. The new Moro Big Pine WMA is part of a conservation easement several state agencies and The Nature Conservancy purchased from one of the state's largest timber companies. Covering about 16,000 acres, it is the largest conservation easement ever established in Arkansas.<br>
<br>During Varnell's shortened term on the commission, the crowning achievement of the many major projects fueled by Amendment 75 funds may be the series of four nature centers that have been completed or are presently under construction. The Gov. Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff opened in July 2001 followed by the Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro that opened in August 2004. The Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center near Fort Smith opened in August 2006. The groundbreaking for the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock was held in June 2006. The facility, situated along the Arkansas River near the Riverfront Amphitheatre in downtown Little Rock, is scheduled to open later this year.<br>
<br>One event during Varnell's term took on international significance. In 2004 the ivory-billed woodpecker was found not to be extinct, but living in Arkansas.<br>
<br>A half-century of futile searching and much speculation by scientists ended with a news conference in Washington, D.C., announcing that the spectacular woodpecker had been found living in an eastern Arkansas swamp.<br>
<br>The news spread rapidly across the nation and to foreign countries. The last documented sighting of an ivory-billed was in Cuba in 1987. The last confirmed sighting in the United States was in 1944, according to the Audubon Society.<br>
<br>The several sightings in Arkansas have been mostly in an area north of Brinkley near the Cache River and Bayou DeView.<br>
<br>Many of the sightings have been within the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, and access to the area where the bird or birds have been seen is now restricted, with only researchers allowed. The woodpecker has also been seen in the adjoining Dagmar Wildlife Management Area of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.