PROVO — It's no secret William Jefferson Clinton is unpopular in Provo, the most conservative city in America based on at least one national study.

Clinton, remember, actually finished third in Utah in the 1992 presidential election, behind President George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot.

So forgive friends of Provoan Byron Daynes if they tease the Brigham Young University political science professor about his appointment as a William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

"We can't even say that name at BYU," joked a laughing Richard Davis, another BYU political science professor.

Daynes and Davis hope the perception there are no Democrats in Provo or at BYU changes soon, and Utahns of all political stripes would be interested in Daynes' research on the American presidency and the environment.

"George W. Bush has out-Reaganed Ronald Reagan in terms of undercutting environmental laws that were established over time," said Daynes, who once presented a paper titled, "There ain't a green Bush among 'em': an examination of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush as environmental presidents."

Utah's own environment will be part of Daynes' work next fall in Little Rock, Ark., because he will explore Clinton's environmental record as president, which really begins with the former president's decision to name Grand Staircase-Escalante a national monument and close the 1.9 million acres in southern Utah to grazing and oil drilling.

Clinton did it with an end run around Congress, using the Antiquities Act to set aside the land less than two months before the 1996 election.

"It was something Clinton had to do to secure environmental support for the election," Daynes said. "Utah had not treated him very well in 1992, so he couldn't lose by setting aside this land in Utah. Grand County people have never forgiven him for this, except for those who have profited from increased tourism."

Daynes will act as a visiting professor and work on a book about Clinton's environmental presidency. He will interview members of Clinton's presidential staff and hopes to land a sit-down with the former president himself.

Daynes considers Teddy Roosevelt the pioneer of presidential environmentalism, and he is shopping a book manuscript on the presidency and the environment from Franklin D. Roosevelt forward.

Daynes said FDR presided over a golden age of conservation and that Clinton's efforts, after a slow start and beginning with Grand Staircase, matched those of the Roosevelts. Richard Nixon, motivated by a then-environmentally conscious electorate, and Jimmy Carter also score well.

The issue of Democrats in Utah County, where nearly 90 percent of residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose Utah adherents have skewed strongly to the right politically for several decades, often frustrates Daynes.