Chris Colclasure

Commissioner Colclasure has served as Director of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Division since September 2021.

Commissioner Colclasure is an avid outdoorsman and has devoted his career to conservation in Arkansas. In his current role as Director of the Natural Resources Division, he is responsible for guiding the agency in its effort to sustainably manage and conserve the state’s water and land resources. Prior to this, he served as a deputy director for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission from 2016 to 2021. Colclasure also worked 14 years for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, three of which serving as the agency director. His career also includes two years at the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, later renamed the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission, as a floodplain coordinator. He received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Public Manager Certification from the Arkansas Public Administration Consortium.