Extension’s Ford receives Lifetime Achievement Award for forestry contributions

By Tracy Courage
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — Victor L. Ford, associate vice president for agriculture and natural resources for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ouachita Society of American Foresters for his 40-year career in forestry.

A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT — Victor L. Ford, associate vice president for agriculture and natural resources for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ouachita Society of American Foresters for his 40-year career in forestry. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

The award, presented Nov. 10 at the society’s banquet in Oklahoma, honors a person who has made considerable contributions to the forestry industry and to the Ouachita Society of American Foresters. The Ouachita Society of American Foresters includes foresters from Arkansas and Oklahoma and is part of the Society of American Foresters, the professional organization for foresters.

“It has been a labor of love over the past 40 years to give back to my profession,” Ford said. “I came to Arkansas and attended meetings with foresters who managed the virgin pine forests. These pioneers gave me a sense of history and along with others in my career were treasured mentors. I hope that I can give that sense of our place in history to the next generation of foresters.”

Ford has been a member of the society since 1982. He was named Forestry Educator of the Year for the Ouachita Society of American Foresters in 2013 and named Fellow of the Society of American Foresters in 2014.

He has held numerous positions within the organization, serving as secretary, vice chair and chair of the Silviculture Working Group. He served on the Ethics Committee, which he chaired for two years, and he co-chaired the Certification Review Board, which oversees professional credentialing. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of American Foresters and is the first Arkansan to serve in this capacity.

Ford’s career has always involved forestry — 20 years in private industry and another 20 with the Cooperative Extension Service. Before becoming associate vice president for agriculture and natural resources in the Division of Agriculture, Ford worked five years as an extension forester at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope and later served as director of the center for eight years.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.