I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2091 

To redesignate the Tyler Bend Visitor Center located on Tyler Bend Road 

in St. Joe, Arkansas, as the Dr. Neil Compton Visitor Center, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2021 

Mr. HILL (for himself, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. WOMACK, and Mr. CRAWFORD) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To redesignate the Tyler Bend Visitor Center located on 

Tyler Bend Road in St. Joe, Arkansas, as the Dr. Neil 

Compton Visitor Center, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dr. Neil Compton Con5 servation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Dr. Neil Compton, of Benton County, Ar2 kansas, was born on August 1, 1912, in Falling 

3 Springs Flats. 

4 (2) Dr. Neil Compton, from 1942 to 1946 

5 served in the United Sates Naval Reserve with the 

6 rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, Medical Corps, 

7 and retired in 1972 with the rank of Captain. 

8 (3) Dr. Compton, the Founder of Ozark Soci9 ety, was credited with saving the Buffalo River from 

10 being dammed in two places by the Army Corps of 

11 Engineers. 

12 (4) Dr. Compton received numerous awards for 

13 his conservation work, including the coveted Amer14 ican Motors Conservation Award on May 20, 1964, 

15 as well as the Distinguished Arkansas Conserva16 tionist award from the Sears Roebuck Foundation 

17 and the National and Arkansas Wildlife Federation, 

18 both of which were presented on November 17, 

19 1966. 

20 (5) In l982, Dr. Compton wrote The High 

21 Ozarks: A Vision of Eden, featuring photographs he 

22 made during his favorite Ozark explorations. This 

23 was followed in 1992 by The Battle for the Buffalo 

24 River: A Conservation Crisis in the Ozarks, published 

25 by the University of Arkansas Press, which was 


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1 nominated for the National Book Award, and The 

2 Buffalo River in Black and White (Ozark Society 

3 Books, 1997). 

4 (6) Fifty years ago, Dr. Compton played an in5 tegral part in having the Buffalo National River 

6 named the first national river in 1972 during the 

7 91st Congress. 

8 SEC. 3. REDESIGNATION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Tyler Bend Visitor Center lo10 cated on Tyler Bend Road in St. Joe, Arkansas, shall be 

11 known and redesignated as the ‘‘Dr. Neil Compton Visitor 

12 Center’’. 

13 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, reg14 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

15 States to the visitor center referred to in subsection (a) 

16 shall be deemed to be a reference to the Dr. Neil Compton 

17 Visitor Center. 

18 SEC. 4. INFORMATIONAL DISPLAY. 

19 The Secretary of the Interior may display informa20 tion at the Dr. Neil Compton Visitor Center to educate 

21 the public about the contributions of Dr. Neil Compton 

22 to the history of the Buffalo National River. 

Æ 


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