Mahony appointed to Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Emon Mahony Jr., the former president of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. and former chairman of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce, was on Wednesday (July 1) appointed as a member of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

Gov. Mike Beebe announced that Mahony, 68, will be the 4th Congressional District representative on the commission. Mahony’s term will expire July 1, 2016.

"Emon is a true conservationist, the result of being a lifetime outdoor sportsman," Beebe said in a statement. "He understands both the environmental protection and economic opportunities that good stewardship can foster."

Mahony served as president of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. from 1977 to 1996, and was a long-time board member of Little Rock-based Alltel Corp. He most recently served on the three-member transition team for Gov. Mike Beebe. Mahony was a commissioner on the Arkansas-Oklahoma River Compact Commission, and served as a senior aide from 1968 to 1975 for U.S. Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark. Mahony, who is also a member of the U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors, now lives in El Dorado where he helps manage a family business.

According to the statement from Beebe, Mahony also has been a trustee for the Arkansas Nature Conservancy since 2007, and was appointed by Gov. David Pryor to the Arkansas Soil and Water Commission in 1978, where he served for seven years, including one as chairman. Mahony was one of the advocates who helped establish the one-eighth cent conservation sales tax for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and still works to create conservation easements to protect local ecosystems.

The commission’s Web site provides this information about the governing commission: “The Commission itself consists of seven Arkansans appointed by the governor to seven year terms. An eighth, non-voting, member sits as Chair of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Department of Biology. It is the sole responsibility of the Commission to oversee the agency’s function as a wildlife management entity.”