April 2022

Little Rock – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Arkansas in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will provide $2 million in fiscal year 2022 to benefit waterfowl through the implementation of Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) 646-Shallow Water Development and Management to counties within the Lower Mississippi Alluvial valley.

You know how sometimes you go to visit your parents, but you don’t want to stay with them because, you know, they’re your parents? So, you decide to stay nearby, but not that nearby because, well, they’re your parents? But it’s also spring break for the kiddos so you dish out a little more scratch than usual and stay not just at a hotel but a resort with a full-on water park, with lots of pools and water slides galore? And you know how the first few days are good, clean family fun, swimming during the days, seeing the folks in the evening but then you learn that the resort offers something else and that something else is… golf? And you know how halfway through your stay, the PGA walks in like they own the joint? I hate it when that happens.

My campaign to become a social media influencer failed. I don’t have the dance moves for TikTok, the wit for Twitter or patience for the mendacious garbage on Facebook. I thought you just popped off about your favorite restaurant or made a snarky comment about skinny jeans – wait, those aren’t a thing anymore, right? – and the world’s adulation and riches were laid at your feet. I was mistaken.

2022 Seniors . . . Well, here you are about to graduate. I’m sure you’re pinching yourself at the prospect of reaching your goal of the last 12 years. I think of you all as caterpillars. You’re about to leave your cocoons; your high school and homes, to emerge as butterflies and fly away to your futures.