Brent Birch

Brent Birch stands at the crossroads of conservation, community leadership and Arkansas’s outdoor heritage. A lifelong Arkansas waterfowler with more than four decades in the field, Brent is deeply involved in the science, culture, and future of waterfowl and wetlands conservation. 

Brent is widely known in the waterfowl world as a storyteller, advocate, and organizer. He is the author of The Grand Prairie: A History of Duck Hunting’s Hallowed Ground, founder of Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, and co-host of The Standard Sportsman podcast, a nationally respected show focused on waterfowl hunting, management and conservation. Brent also created the Duck Season Social, which takes place each December and raises funds for waterfowl-related conservation projects in Arkansas. He also serves in a leadership role as a board member and executive committee member with the Arkansas Game & Fish Foundation and numerous conservation initiatives that support habitat, research and the next generation of hunters.

In 2025, Brent was awarded the Arkansas Wildlife Federation’s Rex Hancock Conservation Advocate Award. Blending executive leadership experience with a lifetime afield, Brent has a unique ability to connect history, conservation, and sporting culture with an eye toward sustaining waterfowl and the traditions surrounding them for future generations.

Brent is a partner in a rice and soybean operation in Arkansas County near Humphrey, where his connection to the land goes far beyond ownership. A true hands-on steward, he works side by side with the tenant farmer while leading the design and implementation of strategic habitat plans that support the farm’s diverse habitat. His deep, working knowledge of conservation is matched by extensive experience collaborating with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and its programs to create meaningful, lasting habitat improvements.

A former Razorback baseball pitcher, Brent earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Arkansas, where he was a four-year letterman and 1990 SWC Champion.

In 2026, Brent joined Lile Real Estate as Director of Marketing and Sales Agent. He previously served as Executive Director of the Little Rock Technology Park, where he spent the past decade in the commercial real estate space, leading a $30 million public-private economic development project.