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Game and Fish OKs Searcy County land purchase for elk habitat Friday, Apr 20, 2007 By Joe Mosby Arkansas News Correspondent LITTLE ROCK - The state Game and Fish Commission agreed Thursday to pay $8.2 million - more than the appraised value - in a "once in a lifetime" land deal for elk habitat along the Buffalo River. The 2,761-acre tract is in western Searcy County and adjoins the Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area and the Buffalo National River. It is prime elk habitat, a major need in the area. The acreage had been in the negotiating stage off and on for about 10 years, with price the stumbling block. Owner Lunceford Cash wanted more than the appraised value of $2,354 an acre for the land. The commission Thursday agreed to pay $3,000 an acre, for a total of $8,284,500. Appraised value, which is normally the top price AGFC will pay for land, would have fetched $6.5 million for the property. "This is special use land, and it's once in a lifetime for us," Commission Chairman Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock said. "I personally think this will be one of the best investments for the people of Arkansas." For comparison, some duck hunting land in Arkansas County sold recently for $9,000 an acre, Nelson said. "This Cash property is a puzzle piece that has been missing along the Buffalo River," commission member Freddie Black of Lake Village said. Elk were brought into the Buffalo River country in 1981 and have expanded along the river corridor. With intensive habitat management, Gene Rush WMA has become the top elk area as shown by results in the tightly controlled hunting seasons of the past nine years, officials said. But additional range on public land has been limited. The addition of the Cash property will give the big animals more than four additional square miles to use. The property includes about five miles of Richland Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo River. The creek bottoms have been used for cattle grazing, and the cattle will be removed. Richland Creek is designated as an Extraordinary Water Resource by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. The property also has a population of gray bats, an endangered species. Also Thursday, the commission approved several additions and changes to the 2006-2007 hunting seasons. One was the inaugural alligator hunting season, with 40 permits to be issued, pending federal approval. Commissioner Craig Campbell of Little Rock objected to opening Turkey Zone 1 to fall hunting, and the package of hunting changes passed by a 5-1 vote. One of the changes was to create a Deferred Hunting Education card, allowing a person under 16 to hunt one season under the direct supervision of a licensed adult hunter without taking a hunter education course. Another change was to remove a limit of two coyotes per day on wildlife management areas. |
