As part of the State of Arizona’s budget-balancing effort, state employees will be required to take six unpaid furlough days for each of the next two fiscal years under a schedule set by the Arizona Department of Administration.

Accordingly, the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Phoenix headquarters and regional offices in Pinetop, Flagstaff, Kingman, Yuma, Tucson and Mesa will be closed on the following days over the next year:

• Friday, July 23, 2010
• Friday, Aug. 20, 2010
• Friday, Sept. 17, 2010
• Friday, Nov. 26, 2010
• Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010
• Friday, June 10, 2011

These particular days were chosen based on the state’s analysis of walk-in and telephone customer traffic so as to minimize customer inconvenience and disruption of services while maximizing utility savings. 

The department will be conducting law enforcement activities on those days and the Operation Game Thief program will be active. Those department wildlife areas that are normally staffed will be closed. Fish hatcheries will be staffed to ensure the health of hatchery fish but will not be open to the public. The Ben Avery Shooting Facility will be open during normal range hours on those days.