Audubon Arkansas open house Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007, features two men named Ken Smith

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Top photo

Kenneth L. Smith, the son of Elton V. and Carol Gibbs Smith, grew up in Hot Springs. In 1952 he enrolled at the University of Arkansas, majoring in mechanical engineering. During his freshman year he joined a university hiking group; while participating in this group he developed a great love for the Buffalo River country of northwest Arkansas.

Graduating in 1956, he worked for a paper company in Crossett, Arkansas, as an engineer. In 1961 he left Arkansas to attend graduate school in California. But rather than completing his graduate degree he accepted a position with the National Park Service; he later received a master of science degree in Natural Resources Administration from the University of Michigan. During his twelve years in the service he worked as a civil engineer in western parks and as a park planner in Washington, D.C.. In 1974 he left the service and returned to Fayetteville, where he became a freelance writer, photographer, and researcher.

During his years outside of Arkansas he retained his ties with environmentalists in the state, including members of the Ozark Society. In 1967 the society published his first book, The Buffalo River Country. It also published his second book in 1977, Illinois River. Smith’s third book, Sawmill: The Story of Cutting the Last Great Virgin Forest East of the Rockies, published in 1986 by the University of Arkansas Press, received the Virginia K. Ledbetter Prize in 1988 for the best nonfiction work on Arkansas.

The Ozark Society was founded in 1962 in response to the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ plans to dam the Buffalo River in order to create the Gilbert Reservoir. In the mid-1960s the Ozark Society mounted a campaign against the building of the Water Valley Dam on the Eleven Point River in northeastern Arkansas. In the early 1970s plans to build the Gillham Dam on the Cossatot River in southwestern Arkansas prompted the Ozark Society to take action. Because of the actions of the Ozark Society, these rivers were saved, and in 1972 the Buffalo River became the first river to be given the status of National River in the United States’ national park system.

Thanks to the University of Arkansas Web site for this information.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE Kenneth L. Smith COLLECTION of papers at the University of Arkansas library.

This collection contains material concerning the preservation of the Buffalo, Cossatot, and Eleven Point rivers put forth by the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Conservation Council, the Arkansas Nature Conservancy, and the Federated Garden Clubs of Arkansas. Other material concerns the founding of the Ozark Society. Several items in the collection were created by Evangeline Archer, secretary of the Ozark Society in the 1960s. The material also includes various publications dating from the 1960s and early 1970s that discuss the Buffalo River. Finally, the collection includes several short narratives probably written by Ozark Society president Neil Compton detailing hiking and canoeing outings.

The material in the collection include sannouncements, statements, correspondence, newspapers and clippings, magazine articles, booklets, flyers, and maps.

The Kenneth L. Smith Papers were donated to the University of Arkansas Libraries by Kenneth L. Smith on September 25, 1994.

Processed by Todd E. Lewis, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in August 2000.

Lower photo:
Left to right: Corey Holbert, Fayetteville Audubon staff member, Ken L. Smith, Kevin Pierson of LR office, Ken Smith of LR office, Dabney Brannon, Fayetteville office


Ken Smith, Executive Director of Arkansas Audubon (wearing blue shirt in lower photo)
Prior to joining Audubon in 2001, Mr. Smith served as Assistant Secretary for U.S. Fish Wildlife and Parks. Mr. Smith also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton and Secretary Bruce Babbitt in the U.S. Department of the Interior. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Smith was responsible for developing policy of the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At the Interior Department, Mr. Smith was instrumental in establishing several new national wildlife refuges, one of which is the Pond Creek Bottoms National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Arkansas. In 1997, Mr. Smith returned to Arkansas for a year where he served as Director of the Ozark Natural Science Center. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Smith served Governors Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker as Assistant for Natural and Cultural Resources. Earlier, Mr. Smith established the first office of the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas and served as Program Coordinator for the Natural Heritage Program. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. degree in Biology and Chemistry and an M.S. degree in Biology. He can be reached at kensmith@audubon.org.

Some of the other Audubon staff members pictured can be found at

Audubon Arkansas staff page
http://www.ar.audubon.org/AboutUs_staff.html