Outdoor Adventurer Pens Handbook for Similar Enthusiasts

After trekking through both the Ozark Mountains and Alaska’s Brooks Range, 1964 alumnus Fred Paillet has co-authored a handbook that details and illustrates the “typical trailside perspective” of a hiker.  

The 2019 Ozark Forest Forensics book is now in its second printing. Fred wrote the book with fellow University of Arkansas Professor Steven Stephenson and also illustrated the book with his own artwork – a skill set that some of his former classmates may recall.

“Some of my 1964 classmates will remember my propensity to sketch in Mrs. Marx’s art classes. That tradition continued with my notebooks full of Alaska wilderness impressions. In fact, I have an entire bookshelf of illustrated wilderness journals,” said Fred, who is now a professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas.

Fred explained that he used to offer outings for the Sierra Club Alaska program, which had him taking parties into the wildest parts in the far north of Alaska’s Brooks Range. Besides lots of “colorful” incidents, Fred became familiar with a certain guidebook that helped pave the way. 

“During those years I relied heavily on the Pielou Naturalist’s Field Guide to the Arctic as backup to deal with incredulous participants who doubted my sometimes lengthy and involved descriptions of strange things seen in the high arctic. The book was sized just right for the backpack, contained clear and simple line drawings, and dealt with a full range of subjects,” he said. 

Having since retired from what his spouse referred to as “arctic death marches,” (seemingly a result of the amount of weight Fred would lose during the outings), Fred took up similar hikes in the Ozark Mountains in his “adopted northwest Arkansas home area.”

“There was no equivalent Ozark handbook that was anywhere near as complete as Pielou, so I just had to invent my own using my own artwork,” he said.

Fred said that his book uses the same strategy as Pielou’s, with clean, simple line drawings and illustrates background on everything from the treetops down to the subsoil. 

According to Fred, “The book deals with the Ozark regional environment, but has at least some relevance to Connecticut since both northern Arkansas and southern Connecticut are nominally included in the Oak-hickory forest biome as described by forest ecologists.”

At the University of Arkansas, Fred advises graduate students and serves as a fill-in lecturer as needed. He is also an emeritus research scientist with the Geological Survey and still actively contributing to USGS documents such as research review publications. Additionally, he said that he occasionally performs consulting gigs related to application of computer codes developed over the years. 

Fred said he would be willing to share his illustrated journals from both Alaska and Siberia with members of the Hamden Hall community. The files are in pdf form and are easily sharable via email. Email him at: fredp@cox.net.

As for his handbook, which is subtitled: The Science Behind the Scenery in Our Regional Forests, Fred maintained that it will resonate with those who knew him during his time under the pines.

“This book confirms the image I created for myself in my Hamden Hall days as a wild and occasionally irrational outdoor adventurer,” he said.