Kelby Ouchley

Kelby Ouchley is a biologist and writer and managed National Wildlife Refuges for the US Fish & Wildlife Service for 30 years. Since 1995 he has written and narrated "Bayou-Diversity," an Associated Press award-winning weekly conservation program for public radio. His seven published books include: "Flora and Fauna of the Civil War;" the novel "Iron Branch;" "Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country," "Bayou-Diversity 2," "American Alligator: Ancient Predator in the Modern World," and "Natural Words: A Dictionary for Naturalists." His latest book, "Bayou D’Arbonne Swamp – A Naturalist’s Memoir of Place," was awarded the 2023 John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing. He has received the Louisiana Governor’s Conservationist of the Year award, the Caroline Dorman Master Naturalist’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Louisiana Ornithological Society’s lifetime achievement award. He maintains the "Bayou-Diversity" web page on Facebook. Kelby and his wife Amy live in Rocky Branch, Louisiana, in a cypress house surrounded by white oaks and black hickories.