This week on the podcast we kick off a new series called the Business of Outdoor Recreation series where Brent will sit down with leaders in the outdoor recreation industry in the state of Arkansas. For the first episode, Brent sits down with Austin Booth, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The conversation explores Austin's role in conserving and preserving the diverse landscapes of Arkansas, including our state's unique fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Austin shares his philosophy of conservation, contrasting it with preservation, and emphasizes the public trust and use of these natural resources. He also shares more about his background, growing up in a small town in Arkansas, his journey through law school, and his time serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, which culminated in his return to Arkansas and his current role.
Podcast Episode
Episode Transcript
Austin Booth 0:00
For you to succeed as a leader, you're gonna have to be very honest with yourself
about how you're doing. And that just takes hard work for self reflection.
Brent Williams 0:10
Welcome to the be epic podcast brought to you by the Sam M. Walton College of Business
at the University of Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll explore
the dynamic landscape of business and uncover the strategies, insights and stories
that drive business today.
Today, I have with me, Austin Booth. Austin is director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Austin, welcome to the be epic podcast.
Austin Booth 0:44
Well, thank you for that. It's really good to be here. Thanks for having me.
Brent Williams 0:47
Well, I'm excited for you to to join us today as someone who gets to live in Northwest
Arkansas, I grew up in the Arkansas Delta, for the majority of my life, I've been
able to experience outdoors in Arkansas. And it's a big part of the quality of life
here. And I know you play a big role in that.
Austin Booth 1:08
We live in an incredibly diverse state in Arkansas, you know, people are very familiar
with the size of Arkansas compared to size of Texas. And we have just as many diverse
eco regions in Arkansas, as they do in Texas. So that's that that's one of the many
reasons why we have the immense treasures that we do in Arkansas in our natural resources.
And it's an honor to be able to lead the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as the
state's conservation agency.
Brent Williams 1:40
Well, then, I guess, you know, maybe kind of jumping right into a little bit of what
your agency does, and we'll kind of we'll kind of integrate that with your background.
But from my viewpoint, you know, I see I see your agency as probably both growing
and protecting those assets that Arkansas has, how do you think about that in your
role?
Austin Booth 2:03
Yeah, so if you go back to our foundational mission, it is amendment 35 to the Arkansas
constitution, which is to conserve fish, wildlife, their habitat, and that essentially,
bring that to the public. Now, I ask this, this kind of philosophic question all the
time of what's the difference between preservation and conservation? And the difference
between those two concepts is one with preservation. You're just trying to guard you're
trying to protect you're trying to keep things the status quo, with conservation,
the difference between preservation and conservation is this idea of a public use,
public trust in perpetuity. So if we were a preservation agency, I would without hesitation,
say that the Arkansas Game and Fish's natural resources and we're here to protect
them from everybody else. And that's not the case when it comes to conservation, which
is what we do. We hold all of our natural resources in public trust for the enjoyment
of the public, as our name would suggest, that includes game species like ducks and
deer, critters that people like to chase and hunt. Same on the aquatic side too. But
when you go to amendment 35, it includes all species, so we are just as protective,
conservingly of critters like the Ozark Hellbender. And some of the threatened and
endangered species we have in Arkansas, just as much as we are the white tailed deer,
the black bear, you know, the eastern turkey, the mallard duck, all of those kinds
of household names as well.
Brent Williams 3:57
Yeah, well, well, I'm interested in I guess how you found yourself in Arkansas because
I think here's the you know, I think I think your story, but would love for you to
elaborate on it. Undergraduate in business and went to law school and you were in
the Marine Corps, US Marine Corps for eight years. Maybe a little more than that before
coming to Arkansas. So maybe kind of tell us a little bit about where you grew up,
that journey, and what brought you to Arkansas.
Austin Booth 4:27
So I grew up in Lonoke County in a little town called Scott. Dad was an outdoor motor
mechanic and mom worked full time inside the home growing up, by nature of my parents',
hard work and sacrifice. I was the first person for my family to be able to go to
college. And I I say somewhat jokingly that one of the one of the greatest miracles
in my life was that I was immature enough to know that or sorry, I was immature enough
to need to go to military cool but mature enough to recognize it. So I left the state
in 2004 after graduating from Catholic High School for Boys and went to the Citadel
in Charleston, South Carolina, had a great four years at the Citadel and then after
that went to law school at the University of South Carolina, and there was a recruiter
that came around to law school and important context for this is I watched 9/11 happen
in my in my sophomore homeroom classroom, then got to Citadel. A lot of my buddies
were in either Iraq or Afghanistan. So when this recruiter came around our law school
in 2000 2008, I walk in late for the recruiting lunch, auditorium packed full of folks.
And as you would expect, one of the only seats open was on the front row. So I sit
down on the front row Marine Corps major up on the stage in his dress blues. And he
said, raise your hand, if you think practicing law in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
sounds exciting. And I just thought, man, that sounds incredible. So I raised my hand.
And I turned around thinking surely that there will be like 50 to 100, like minded
law students and I was the only one. And so the recruiter said, alright I need to
talk to you up here, for everybody else that just came here for free lunch, we got
Chick fil A in the back. But that was 2008, in 2010 I went to Officer Candidate School,
accepted my commission, and then hit the fleet in 2011, had an incredible first four
years in the Marine Corps where I mostly served as a criminal prosecutor and went
to Afghanistan for a combat tour in 2015. And because of the work we were doing over
there, at the time, have a lot of interaction with Congress. And then from there went
to work in Washington DC as a congressional appropriations liaison where I was responsible
for advocating for a $14 billion slice of the Marine Corps budget. During that time
period, it was just incredible. I was a small town kid with blue collar roots from
Lonoke County and got to see about 20, 21 countries and about 24 months. So that was
a incredible experience for me getting to see how government works overseas. And then
came home in 2019, with my wife and three kids, and in tow, where I became the chief
of staff and the CFO for Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs. And then people
asked me how I got this job, thinking there was some kind of convoluted, mysterious
way that that happened. And they look at me in disbelief when I say that I'm an old
soul and I read the newspaper every day, and I read in the newspaper where the game
and fish director was retiring. And they're gonna hire a headhunter. So I googled
the headhunter, he had a link to the job on his website, and I, I sent in a one page
cover letter and a one page resume and we were off to the races. And I took over,
what's the today's the seventh a year and six days, I'm sorry, two years and six days
ago.
Brent Williams 8:37
Well, congrats on on being in the role for a couple of years. And, you know, a lesson
to our students out there, always be on the watch out for the opportunity. You never
know what's coming.
Austin Booth 8:51
That's exactly right.
Brent Williams 8:52
Well, and I think, you know, the I know, clearly you have, you know, a team underneath
you and a team out in the field throughout Arkansas. And then I think, if I understand
the structure, right, you have a set of commissioners that represent our state. And
so maybe kind of explain to us how the how the whole structure and agency works.
Austin Booth 9:12
Yeah, so we're, we manage roughly 3.8 million acres throughout the state. We manage
those for wildlife and for fish. And then in addition to the acreage we also have
not 96,000 miles of rivers and streams. So it comes as no surprise then with that,
with that understanding that we have roughly 650 employees that are present in all
75 counties. The way we administer conservation, both on the natural resources side
and the people side is we have a wildlife management division that is responsible
for the majority of that three 3.8 million acres that manage public lands. We also
have a Fisheries Division that manages the public waters and our fish hatchery system
which produces anywhere from from 12 to 14 million fish every year. We also have our
enforcement division, which has 180 Game Wardens throughout Arkansas and all 75 counties.
We have a private lands division, which is responsible for working with private landowners
to help them meet their conservation goals. And, in a couple of weeks we'll have a
recreational shooting division, which is really aimed at at increasing public access
to public shooting, and really driving that nexus between conservation and recreational
shooting to more communities throughout Arkansas. And then the last major division
that we have is our education division. Northwest Arkansas is home to our Johnelle
Hunt Ozark Highlands Nature Center, which is a tremendous place that we have nature
centers throughout the state and educators in every single county that help educate
all Arkansans, but especially that next generation of outdoorsman, just what's under
our feet here in Arkansas.
Brent Williams 11:11
You know, one thing you the one way that you and I got connected was was around leadership
development. And you know, not not too long ago, you were connecting with the Walton
College on developing leadership programming for for your team through through Walton
College executive education. But I know in kind of getting to know you a little bit
leadership and leadership development is something you're passionate about. And so
kind of where does that come from? How's that maybe connect in I assume probably to
your time in the Marine Corps?
Austin Booth 11:52
Sure. Well, I would say it comes from two motivations. I probably should have said
this at the beginning. But I don't want any of our listeners to think that I'm a Gamecock
fan. I am I am forever a Razorback even though I don't have a diploma from from from
there. And so from that perspective, Sam Pittman is not the only one focused on his
depth chart. And Arkansas Game and Fish is an outstanding place to work. And oftentimes
what that means is that we have bands of employees that have been here for a really
long time, that from a succession or an attrition perspective is a challenge for us
as an agency. So from day one, I've I have really tried to get the agency to focus
on how do we build a bench? Alright, not bench by necessity, but that how do we build
a bench of actual leaders that we want? And that will be what Arkansas deserves? So
that's the first motivation is where does the future of this agency look look like
for what we can deliver back to the people of Arkansas. The second motivation is,
leadership is just branded all over me. For my time in the Marine Corps, I wanted
to enlist out of high school, given 9/11, and the tremendous impact that had on me,
mom and dad said, no, no, no, you'll always be able to enlist, why don't we give this
college thing a try? So I ended up taking a commission in the Marine Corps. And one
of the things that really set the Marine Corps apart from my mind when I when I was
trying to decide what service I wanted to join was that in the Marine Corps, it doesn't
matter whether you're a pilot, an infantry officer, a lawyer, an artillery officer,
fill in the blank, whatever job you have in the Marine Corps, your fundamental responsibility
is you're an officer of the Marines. And, and, and that really resonated with me even
as a you know, 21 year old. And the Marine Corps really prides itself on building
quality leaders, now, and I'm not tooting my own horn, I can assure anyone listening
that I have learned much more from my failures than I have my suc-successes. But it
didn't matter whether I was in the courtroom, advising commanders on Capitol Hill
or even in combat, one of the things that I learned very quickly, is at an institution
is only as good and healthy and productive as its leadership, not as supervisors,
right. We supervise processes, but we lead people. And I'm always thinking about leadership,
and whether we're delivering as much as we need to, not just to outcomes, not just
to processes, but are we really delivering the best possible thing that we can people.
Brent Williams 14:57
Well, and maybe you know, you mentioned you're both successes and failures. And often
we learn for both, there's no doubt and sharing those actually can be some of the
greatest ways to help develop leaders in our organizations. You know, one of the questions
that always comes to mind when I get to talk to leaders is, you know, what's what's
one of the biggest lessons learned for you thus far, and one that you really tried
to share? Not only with your organization, but with others?
Austin Booth 15:29
Yeah. I think that I will have to go back to a quote by General James Mattis. I had,
I had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with then Secretary Mattis when
he was Secretary of Defense. And he always said that the number one challenge facing
young leaders is the the lack of time that they make for self reflection. I have a,
a leadership flaw that I'm working on right now, where I don't like books on leadership.
I'm trying to grow beyond that. But for for, for years, my preferred source of reading
is biographies, where I can learn from other people's mistakes and from other people's
successes, and then really reflect on on what it is that went wrong or went right
within their lives and the things that I can try to emulate. But you can read all
the books that you want to, you can fail, you can try out, but that time for self
reflection, is especially important for young people. And it's incredibly hard for
young people too because they feel all these external demand signals of how they should
be spending their their time. So that was one way that I did not do well, when I was
a young leader is just making that time for self reflection. And I try, every way
that I possibly can to beat that into people's head here is for you to succeed as
a leader, you're gonna have to be very honest with yourself about how you're doing.
And that just takes hard work for self reflection.
Brent Williams 17:21
Well, what what great advice not only for, for our students, but people developing
their careers and and beyond, well, maybe maybe switching gears just a little bit.
I wanted to talk about outdoor recreation in our state and how it maybe connects to
economic development, and even how employers can be thinking about how they leverage
the wonderful assets that we have in Arkansas, as you, you know, are quite aware of
I'm sure, Governor Sanders in our state has made outdoor recreation a high priority
in her administration. And you know, so just as you is you've been in the role for
a couple of years, how are you able to see the Game and Fish Commission and the use
of these assets throughout our state really starting to continue to lead toward economic
development?
Austin Booth 18:19
Yeah. So if you look at the Arkansas game, and fish budget, and Marines are known
for many things, and math is not one of them. But this is math that's simple enough
that a marine can do if you just look at how much what our budget is, compared to
how much land we we manage 3.8 million acres for $25 an acre. All right, that is an
incredible value. All right, that excluding education cost, if you just made the assumption
that 100% of our budget was for land and and water conservation, $25 dollars an acre,
right. So for decades, Arkansas Game and Fish has been a what what I would describe
as a value company. Alright. That's something that we're proud of, and that Arkansans
should be very proud of. All right, what have we gotten for that value? We estimate
that the outdoor recreation economy in Arkansas is roughly $9.6 billion. All right.
Tourism is our second industry behind ag. And if you look at the outdoor rec numbers
compared to tourism, we can say with a high level of confidence that the large majority
of that tourism is flowing from that outdoor recreation economy. All right, let's
take that one step further. If you break down the outdoor recreation economic impact
into segments, the number one outdoor recreation segment that we have in Arkansas
is fishing, that the number three is hunting. Number two is RVing. And what we don't
know, but what I would love to know is how many of that of those people in the RV
category are pulling their RV behind him so that they can hunt or fish, do one of
those number one or number three activities. So in terms of economic return, on the
$25 per acre cost, it is just tremendous what the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
is able to support from a value perspective, now coming more towards the governor's
incredible vision for outdoor recreation in Arkansas and how we elevate that. For
over two years now, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has 100% been in a growth
phase where we're trying to pivot from becoming a value company that we've always
been proud of more to something analogous to a growth company where we are massively
trying to reinvest in the infrastructure and in the conservation practices that we
have now that have secured Arkansas as one of the best fastest growing deer herds,
world renowned trout fishing, world renowned duck hunting. How do we how do we keep
that, reinvest for the next generation but also diversify outdoor recreation as Arkansas
Game and Fish knows it into a more diverse set of pursuits, and basically what that
looks like, from our perspective is more emphasis on recreational shooting, which
is one of the fastest outdoor recreation pursuits in the country. More emphasis around
river trails, paddle sports, and then opening up our wildlife management areas to
more 21st century pursuits such as, you know, gravel bike riding wildlife watching,
hut to hut concepts. And we're we're trying to do those things in tandem with reinvestment,
which is a lot of work and very tricky to pull off. But I'm really proud of the progress
that we've made in two years.
Brent Williams 22:17
Well, thank you for for moving our state forward in that way and continue to invest
in in those in those assets that we all know about, you know, like you said the world
class fishing and duck hunting and deer hunting, but also diversifying it so that
everyone can can enjoy the outdoors. And I'm sure that's an important focus for you.
Austin Booth 22:37
Yes, it is. You know, we have a wildlife management area in south Arkansas called
Barrel Anthony Wildlife Management Area. It's an incredible place, we were happy to
add roughly 500 acres to it in fiscal year 22. And we had a gentleman from the state
of Alaska, who drove from Alaska to Arkansas to Barrel Anthony Wildlife Management
Area, to see a rare bird that we're proud to have down in south Arkansas. He spent
a couple of days out on the wildlife management area, he saw the bird, he turned and
drove back. And so Arkansas' natural resources are just incredible. As someone that
lived here, until I was 18, and then moved away for 15 years. I don't think I'm going
to hurt anybody's feelings when I say we take them for granted that we have national
national treasure here. And in the longest term, we're trying to answer that question
of how do we open this up to more people in a way that that best serves Arkansas but
also doesn't disenfranchise the people that we have now.
Brent Williams 23:43
Yeah, totally makes sense. Well, I was really glad to hear that you're Razorback at
heart. And and so I think maybe the way we'll close is you know, when you think about
this, our students at the Walton College in the University of Arkansas, that point
at that you're at in your career, clearly doing something you're passionate about
and love, what advice would you would you share with students about how they pursue,
you know, their own passions and make a real impact in in the fields that they want
to make an impact in?
Austin Booth 24:22
Yeah. Well, I would just point to my own resume and say that if someone that didn't
know me looked at my resume, they would, they would probably rightfully think this
guy has no idea what he wants to do when he grows up. I mean, everywhere from a criminal
courtroom to combat to Washington DC to veterans to now to now Game and Fish. And
I can I would just offer this encouragement to any students out there. That do despite
what might be the perception of aimlessness or lack of continuity in in any one area,
I have had a remarkable, remarkable professional career, just over 12 years, and is
deeply, deeply rewarding. And so my advice to them would be to find something that
they're passionate about, and do the best possible job they can at it. And if a door
opens, that seems to be outside of what someone may say about well this is what your
background says, or you have a experience doing this, just walk through that door
and fight like crazy. And if the Lord closes the door, then keep your nose down and
keep doing the best possible job that you possibly can. In addition to that, and probably
no surprise to anybody, I, I would say be the best subject matter expert that you
can but never, ever neglect how you are as a leader, read as much as you read as much
as you possibly can. And then thirdly, get a mentor. I'm a huge advocate, that, that
it doesn't matter how old you are, having a mentor to tell you what you're doing,
right, what you're not doing wrong, learn from their failures, that mentor role is
just critical. And I think it's something that that's heavily undervalued in 2023.
Brent Williams 26:35
Well, Austin, I agree with with those points, you know, from, you know, the basics
of working hard. And doing your absolute best in whatever position, role you're in
to, you know, saying yes, sometimes, you know, to, to a potential role that may not
seem like it fits or, you know, may seem like it has some risk in your career. I mean,
there's value in being able to move across different parts of an organization or different
organizations is hard to understate. And then I hear mentor over and over, you know,
as I talk to leaders throughout our state and beyond, as something that's been really
important in their lives. So thank you for sharing those three points with our students.
I couldn't agree more. And thank you for what you're doing as director of the Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission. And I really appreciate you sharing your insights and your
thoughts and your wisdom with us today.
Austin Booth 27:37
Well, thank you for having me. And I've really enjoyed this.
Brent Williams 27:40
Thank you. On behalf of the Walton College, thank you for joining us for this captivating
conversation, to stay connected and never miss an episode, simply search for be epic
on your preferred podcast service.
