Kelby Ouchley is a naturalist and managed National Wildlife Refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 30 years. His first book, "Flora and Fauna of the Civil War: An Environmental Reference Guide," was published by LSU Press in 2010. A collection of his essays, "Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country," will be released by LSU Press in October 2011. His first novel, "Iron Branch: A Civil War Tale of a Woman In-Between," is available for Kindle and other e-readers. Since 1995, Kelby has written and narrated a weekly conservation-related program for KEDM 90.3 FM, the public radio station that serves the Ark-La-Miss area. He has been awarded the Louisiana Governor's Conservationist of the Year Award. Kelby and his wife, Amy, live in the woods in Rocky Branch, Louisiana, in a cypress house surrounded by white oaks and black hickories.

Louisiana Governor's Conservationist of the Year Award.