Royal Elder should be recognized for his service to the State of Kansas by having a State Hunting Area renamed in his honor.  Royal Elder served the state of Kansas for 24 years; as Game Protector at Tuttle Creek Reservoir and as the first Hunter Safety Coordinator.  During his years at Tuttle Creek (1960-1972), he enforced safe boating regulations which resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of boating accidents, injuries, and fatalities.  During his last 7 years on the lake, there were no fatalities at all.  In late 1972, Royal Elder was appointed the first Hunter Safety Coordinator for the State of Kansas.  Within the first year, over 1000 hunter safety instructors were trained and they, in turn, trained over 30,000 students.  In 1974, the program's second year of existence, the Kansas Hunter Safety Program was selected as the Best Hunter Safety Program in North America.  For the next 10 years, Mr. Elder tirelessly worked with hunter safety instructors across the state and personally trained 100s of students himself.  Including "hunter ethics" in the curriculum improved hunter/landowner relations in the state.  The basic program that Mr Elder put together in 1972 is still in use today.  Royal Elder retired in 1984 and passed away in 2017 at the age of 96.  The lives and safety of untold numbers of Kansas hunters and sports men and women  have been touched by the work of Royal Elder.  There are numerous state hunting and recreation areas that are named with geographical points of reference; renaming such an area would not require removing the name of another person, nor does it require an act of the state legislature.  Such areas can be renamed by the director of the Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism.