Smokey Bear

Did you know the U.S. Forest Service has a long connection to the Boy Scouts of America? Roughly 78 percent of Forest Service employees were Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts in their youth; and many scouting projects, including Eagle Scout projects, take place on national forests or grasslands. “The Boy...

Hi there! Smokey Bear here. We all know that bears love to hang out in the forests, but as our Nation’s symbol for wildfire prevention, I don’t get to do that as much as I’d like. So I’m really excited to tell you about a trip I recently made to the woods of Pennsylvania. I went to the Boy Scouts of...

Imagine dousing your campfire then getting a big bear hug from Smokey Bear, the iconic symbol of wildfire prevention for nearly 70 years. That’s the idea behind three videos in a new series of Smokey Bear public service advertisements released July 12, 2013, designed to raise awareness about...

Sometimes, a story speaks for itself. Although Smokey Bear was created on August 9, 1944, when the U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council agreed that a fictional bear named Smokey would be the symbol for their efforts to promote forest fire prevention – what later happened is simply amazing. Imagine...

One of America’s most well-known, beloved and important icons is going to have a little work done over the next several weeks in preparation for his upcoming 70 th birthday in 2014. The mechanical Smokey Bear that welcomes scores of visitors to the U.S. Forest Service headquarters building in...

Six-year-old Nathan Norman counts Smokey Bear as one of his new best friends. The Rustburg, Va., boy recently met Smokey and a number of wildland firefighters and law enforcement officers from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests as part of his hobby of reaching out to these first...

Forests are an intricate part of our life, from the air they clean to the water they provide. So, we invite you to love your national forests.

Jerri Marr awoke on June 23, 2012, expecting a normal day as forest supervisor tending to issues on the Pike and San Isabel national forests west of Colorado Springs, Colo., and on the Comanche National Grassland, some 250 miles away. Not to mention the Cimarron National Grassland in southwest...

Since 2009, Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl have been making the rounds from coast to coast on a green-built, interactive traveling exhibit called Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl: Home Sweet Home created by the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in collaboration with the Forest Service. The educational exhibit...

For nearly 70 years, Smokey Bear has been a fixture in America’s history as the stalwart defender of our forests and his “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” resonates no matter how young or old you are.