“With a Ranger’s hat and shovel and a pair of dungarees, you will find him in the forest always sniffin’ at the breeze.” He’s Smokey Bear. Celebrated in song and story for eighty years now, Smokey Bear is the anthropomorphic face of the United States Forest Service, and the agency’s educational crusade against accidental wildfires; the longest-running public service advertising campaign in our history. Since 1944 this ageless champion of woodland fire safety, and responsible stewardship, remains a beloved environmental symbol recognizable to an astonishing 96% of American adults. Green, before green was cool. So, “Remember... Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires.”
Smokey’s origin story is cartoonish. In the last years of World War II, the Forest Service and Ad Council launched a Wildfire Prevention campaign featuring artist renderings of a bear named Smokey. Bambi provided that inspiration. The 1942 Disney film had struck a chord with its horrific forest fire scenes, and Walt loaned his animal characters to the Forest Service for a popular fire prevention poster. But only for one year, leaving forestry to find their own animated spokesman. So, in this way Smokey’s family tree can be traced back to Bambi, Thumper, and Flower.
In May 1950, a genuine Ursus americanus – a black bear - brought Smokey to life. Crews battling a major wildfire raging through the Capitan Mountains in southeastern New Mexico found a lone bear cub clinging to a charred tree, his backside, and paws badly singed. Rangers flew the little orphan to a Santa Fe veterinarian for emergency treatment. News spread through New Mexico and soon captured the national imagination, reminiscent of President Roosevelt’s famous encounter with a scared little cub that gave us the modern Teddy Bear. To capitalize on such human interest, the state gifted the now famous cub to the Forest Service who christened him Smokey Bear, the official ambassador of conversation and fire prevention. This real-life Smokey lived the rest of his life at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., along with a female companion, Goldie, until his death in 1976.
With millions of fan letters arriving at his own zoo zip code, Smokey emerged as a feature of American popular culture. His furry visage – wearing only blue jeans and broad-brimmed campaign hat – appeared in television commercials, animated films, postage stamps, a Saturday morning cartoon series, billboards, and in radio spots where he conversed with celebrities. A federally licensed line of collectable merchandise featured comic and coloring books, Tonka action sets, hundreds of toys, and plush dolls, some with mail-in cards to join his Junior Forest Rangers.
A popular 1950s song – “Smokey the Bear” sung by Eddy Arnold, and later covered by the rock band Canned Heat, inadvertently sparked a persistent debate over his proper name. But true fans will tell you that songwriters arbitrarily added “the” between “Smokey” and “Bear” simply to keep the rhythm.
In 1966, NBC declared Thanksgiving as Smokey Bear Day, hoisting his massive balloon in Macy’s parade and airing a “Ballad of Smokey the Bear” special by Rankin/Bass (the same stop motion animation studio that brought us Rudolph).
Adoring fans still make the pilgrimage to the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico, where the actual Smokey is laid to rest. And though other spokes-animals have since joined the conservation conversation – Woodsy the Owl and Ranger Rick – Smokey is iconic.
As his updated slogan makes clear: Smokey Bear Lives Within Us All.
