A state lawmaker says agencies not involved in wildlife protection should have a piece of the 29.5 million dollar the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will receive from leasing more than 11,500 acres to a natural gas firm.

The Game and Fish Commission says it will begin negotiations with two state agencies to use part of the lease money for environmental protections. But a deputy director of the agency says it would probably resist directing the money toward non-wildlife agencies.

Senator Steve Faris says he'll ask lawmakers to refer to voters a constitutional amendment allowing money raised from oil, gas and mineral deposits on land owned by the state Game and Fish Commission to the state's general revenues, rather than only for the commission's use.

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission voted yesterday to accept the terms of the leases with Chesapeake Energy Corporation in the Gulf Mountain and Petit Jean River wildlife management areas after taking bids on the opportunity to explore the lands. The leases will allow the Oklahoma City-based company to have access to more than 7,500 acres at Petit Jean River in Yell County and nearly 4,000 acres at Gulf Mountain in Van Buren County.

The leases also entitle the commission to a 20-percent royalty on any natural gas pumped from the sites, money that - if it comes in - will be used to improve state lands. The deal is the company's largest mineral-rights lease ever in Arkansas.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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