Gov. Sanders announces Arkansas Outdoor Education pilot program

Gov. Sarah Sanders on Wednesday (June 4) joined First Gentleman and Natural State Initiative Advisory Council Chair Bryan Sanders, along with Mary Beth Hatch, chief of education for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Doug Schoenrock, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, to announce Arkansas’ new Outdoor Education pilot program.

Arkansas Parks, Tourism and Heritage Director Shea Lewis and Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva also participated in the news conference held at the AG&FC Witt Stephens Nature Center in Little Rock.

A product of the Natural State Initiative, this program marries two of Sanders’ administration’s top priorities: education and outdoor recreation, she said. It is a partnership between the Arkansas Department of Education and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

“The program aims to create a lifetime of passion and excitement for our outdoors, bringing together the public, private and nonprofit sector leaders from around the state,” Sanders said.

Districts can now apply to be one of 30 schools from across the state to participate in the program during its first year, after which the state will evaluate the program’s effectiveness and prepare for a statewide launch.

Newly appointed director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Doug Schoenrock expressed excitement about the program, saying one of his agency’s priorities is to invest in initiatives and experiences that connect people with high quality recreational opportunities.

“Today’s outdoor educational announcement does exactly that,” Schoenrock said. “This program will bring the outdoors into the classroom and the classroom into the outdoors. And most importantly, this program will bring outdoors into the hearts and minds of our students and build a connection to the Natural State.”

Hatch reassured educators that the program would not just be “another thing on their plate.” She said the program has been designed by educators and in conjunction with the commission’s Teacher Leader Council. She also said they had staff who would offer professional development “starting very soon, all through the summer and throughout the school year, to those schools that engage in this.”

“We have a generation of youth that have been lost, and so this gives them an opportunity to connect with the outdoors that previous generations always had, especially here in Arkansas,” said State Rep. Carlton Wing, R-North Little Rock. Wing, who was in attendance at the news conference, is a sportscaster turned outdoorsman.

He got his start in 2001 hosting “FLW Outdoors,” a fishing show that aired nationally. He later launched Wing Media Group and has produced over a dozen national fishing shows. Wing expressed excitement that the program would be a model for other states.

“We set the bar in the outdoors for the rest of the country,” Wing said. “We’ve got the best Game and Fish Commission in the country. We have the best state parks in the country. Our outdoors are second to none, and so this will absolutely set a standard for other folks.”