Created in 1947, the commission oversees conservation of land and sustains the state’s fish and wildlife resources through research and scientific investigation. With an annual budget of $65 million and 590 full-time employees, the commission also enforces state fishing, hunting, trapping and boating laws.
“This is a great honor for me and also for the Eastern Band,” Hicks commented. “Our tribe has long been committed to environmental preservation and sustainability and this appointment represents a natural extension of the work we have been doing for many years on the Quall Boundary and in Western North Carolina.”