Groups that use the Camp Robinson Special Use Area near Conway fear that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is abandoning them as the agency considers revising its public use policy for the area.
The commission wants to get out of the field trial business at the 4,029-acre outdoor activity site, said Ricky Chastain, agency deputy director.
The commission approves of field trials at Camp Robinson, but it is inappropriate for the agency to support them with money, resources and manpower, Chastain said.
The agency loses money maintaining the area for field trials, and field trial habitat is the opposite of wildlife habitat, he said.
"If you look at our mission statement, it's about wildlife conservation," Chastain said. "Nobody can go out there and look at those courses that are maintained for recreational activities ... and misinterpret that as wildlife habitat."
The commission is considering revisions to its use policy and wildlife management plan as a consequence of the tornado that destroyed large parts of Mayflower and Vilonia on April 27.
The tornado destroyed a clubhouse that was a popular meeting spot for groups that hold events on the Camp Robinson site. The storm also destroyed a horse barn, dog kennels, other structures and a large amount of timber.
The proposed policy revision recommends not rebuilding the clubhouse, the horse barn or the dog kennels. It also recommends not rebuilding the area manager's residence and demolishing two damaged storage buildings.
The plan further recommends ending the wildlife agency's intense participation in servicing bird dog field trials, and that has some groups concerned. A field trial is a competition for sporting dogs, including bird dogs, raccoon dogs and rabbit dogs.
Johnny Taylor of Little Rock, who represents the Arkansas Amateur Field Trial Association, said the Camp Robinson Special Use Area is America's premier field trial facility and attracts participants from across the country.
The clubhouse, which Taylor and others say was built by private individuals and was donated to the commission in the 1950s, was the central meeting place for field trial participants and other users.
Rebuilding the clubhouse is one of Taylor's main concerns because it symbolized the sporting culture that gravitated to Camp Robinson, he said.
The only place to gather now is a dilapidated pavilion with an unsound roof that has exposed rebar and chunks of concrete missing from the pillars.
The slab foundation of the clubhouse has been removed.
Users, including Taylor, believe the commission will build an office in its place. The revised use plan calls for building a new work center and office.
Groups that regularly use the Camp Robinson area include the Arkansas Bowhunters Association, field trial enthusiasts and horseback riders.
Taylor said the proposed policy revisions feed a perception that the commission wants to abandon its traditional constituents by disassociating itself from field trials.
Chastain disagreed.
"Field trials and bird hunting are two different animals," Chastain said. "They have different objectives and different purposes."
The plan presented to the commission at its June 19 meeting in Texarkana recommends discontinuing the practice of buying pen-raised bobwhite quail to release for field trials and the practice of assigning commission personnel to release, feed, water and care for released quail. The plan also calls for no longer providing a special wagon to carry bird dogs during field trials and no longer assigning commission personnel to operate the dog wagon during field trials.
The proposal also calls for changing the management plan for the area to provide "good quality wildlife habitat rather than providing groomed field trial courses."
Camp Robinson supported wild quail a long time ago, Chastain said, but the continuous pressure of being pointed and flushed during field trials drove them out. The only quail on those areas now are domestically raised birds that were set free for field trials.
The commission spends about $22,000 a year on quail and bird food for the birds that are released for those events, Chastain said.
Taylor said the expense is justified because wild quail no longer exist in great numbers in Arkansas. The commission should stock quail so that pointing-dog enthusiasts may enjoy them, he said, comparing it to stocking fish in lakes for anglers to catch.
Field trial rules prohibit shooting quail during an event, Taylor said. Participants are not allowed to have live ammunition on a course.
"It's catch-and-release 'hunting,'" Taylor said.
"We're talking $134,000 [total] out of an $88 million budget. It's nothing," Taylor said. "They stock fish in lakes, rivers and ponds all over this state for people to catch. They have this one place to release quail. This is it. Here, and at Blue Mountain, but Blue Mountain is an entirely different situation."
Some elements of the revised Camp Robinson management plan might also be implemented at Blue Mountain Special Use Area near Booneville, Chastain said.
Chastain said that attempting to re-establish quail with liberated birds is universally discredited among professional wildlife managers.
Commission staff members contribute about 100 working days to field trials and related activities, Chastain said. That includes mowing fields of thick grass and planting food plots.
The agency intends to discontinue field trial course maintenance in favor of restoring native habitat, which Chastain said is more hospitable to quail, rabbits, deer and other wildlife. That includes more aggressive use of prescribed burns and timber harvests, he said.
Under its current management regimen, Chastain said, every dollar the commission spends at Camp Robinson for manpower, pen-raised quail, seed, fertilizer and tractor fuel comes from state money.
The federal government does not reimburse the agency because of restricted uses at Camp Robinson, like field trials and organized horse riding events, and also because the federal government does not reimburse costs for stocking pen-raised quail, Chastain said.
The commission gets federal funds for other wildlife management areas.
The agency also doesn't get revenue from participants in sanctioned field trials because they are not required to have Arkansas hunting licenses, Chastain said.
The commission's revised plan calls for instituting a fee schedule for activities at Camp Robinson. Chastain said that might include requiring campers to pay fees to park recreational vehicles on the trailer pads, which have water and electrical hookups.
Users might also be required to pay activity fees for organized events, and equestrians might be required to pay a fee to use the newer horse barn that was not damaged in the tornado.
Taylor said he thought user fees would be appropriate and that most users would be willing to pay reasonable amounts.
Metro on 07/06/2014