The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will open bids today to begin the reconstruction of its Jonesboro Field Office. The bidding window opened Aug. 8-Sept. 8, and the mandatory pre-bid meeting was held Aug. 24.
“We’ve already submitted building permits and plans, so once we open the bids and select a contractor, the rebuild should begin fairly quickly,” said Reid Phifer, interim chief of the AGFC’s Operations Division. “We anticipate the building to be complete by early summer 2027.”
It’s been a little over a year since a late-night fire destroyed the AGFC’s regional office in Jonesboro. Although portions of walls remained upright, complete demolition down to the concrete foundation was necessary to ensure a safe rebuild and working environment for the building’s replacement.
“We actually will be using the same foundation, so the building will have the same footprint, but we have altered a few things on the interior to better meet the changing needs of staff in the office,” Phifer said. “The building has transitioned to a field office instead of a publicly accessible regional office, but we’re maintaining the same number of staff in the area and adding more storage for their equipment.”
The transition to a field office was completed before the fire and was done to make better use of the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center next door.
“The nature center is our primary contact point with everyone in the public, and we want to focus all eyes on that facility,” AGFC Deputy Director Spencer Griffith said. “Staff at the regional office had to manage public outreach, sell licenses and manage their field duties in a facility that was better suited for operations and business functions. The nature center is built for public outreach and staffed with education, outreach and customer service staff who can better assist the public with inquiries and visits. In many instances, people would mistakenly arrive at the regional office and be directed to the nature center to handle their license purchase or take their Hunter or Boater Education course. This change will help reduce that confusion.”
