We’ve been waiting for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to do more than talk about quail restoration, and it looks like that time is coming.

Over the last two years, the Commission has taken encouraging steps to prioritize upland bird habitat. The agency has reached out to prominent bird hunting enthusiasts like Judge Bill Wilson, former state supreme court justice Jack Holt and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Rex Nelson. It also has hired its first dedicated quail biologist, Marcus Asher.

That’s all great, but so far the Commission’s efforts have been superficial. As is often the case in government, meetings and symbols substitute for progress.

Apparently, real progress is coming.

In his first meeting as Commission chairman, Steve Cook of Malvern directed the agency’s administrative staff to establish an upland bird stamp. If adopted, it will be an additional, elective cost to hunters similar to our state duck stamp or trout stamp.

Read more about the upland bird hunting stamp proposal in Arkansas in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.