Darrell Bowman, interim director of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, has been named the director, Department of Arkansas Heritage Director Stacy Hurst said Wednesday.
Bowman has been the commission's interim director since August when former director Chris Colclasure departed to become an assistant deputy director for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Bowman had been the commission's deputy director since 2015.
Bowman was hired after the department received 91 applications for the job and three applicants were interviewed, said department spokesman Melissa Whitfield. Bowman will be paid a salary of $63,000 a year, she said. Colclasure was paid $60,349 as director when he left for the Game and Fish Commission post.
Bowman was the lake ecology and fisheries manager for the Bella Vista Village Property Owners Association from 2007-15 and previously worked as a fisheries biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The Natural Heritage Commission is part of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and has been working to conserve the state's natural landscape since 1973, according to its website.
A Section on 01/19/2017