Alva Review-Courier -

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Thomas Nuttall may not be a name as famous as other early 1800s explorers like Meriwether Lewis or William Clark, but for those who study the natural world, he is an iconic figure.

Fort Smith served as Nuttall's base of operations the summer of 1819 for what would become his "Journal of Travels into the Arkansa (sic) Territory" and local restorative ecologist Steve Patterson has organized a field trip through the Kiamichi Technology Center in Poteau to retrace some of Nuttall's steps and talk about native plant species.

Because the program was so popular the first try l...