Lincoln County New Mexico Genealogy and History

Lincoln National Forest

Photo Donated by:  Gwendolyn S. Smith-2008

Smokey Bear Smokey Bear began with the history of World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese planes.  In February 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine surfaced at night and fired its deck gun into the Ellwood Oil Field located 12 miles northwest of Santa Barbara which was close to the Los Padres National Forest.  This attack caused shock to the Americans throughout the country and the news spread that the war had been brought to the American mainland.  This attack initiated great concern of future attacks which could cause major disasters of loss of life, property destruction and set off numerous forest fires.  The protection of the forest woodlands became the focus of the United States National Forest Service who organized the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign with assistance from the Wartime Advertising Council.  The Advertising Council created slogans and posters to suggest that people could help prevent accidental fires and aid in winning the war. After Walt Disney's animated motion picture, Bambi, premiered in August 1942, permission was temporarily given for the Disney characters to be used by the government in the public service campaigns to prevent forest fires.  The use of the Disney animal theme became very popular and lead to the idea of the Smokey Bear creation. Inspiration for the name came from a New York City Fire-Fighter hero named "Smoky" Joe Martin, the assistant chief, who shrugged off burns and near-blindness fighting off a wall of flames in 1922. The first poster of Smokey Bear was released on August 9, 1944, illustrated by Albert Staehle which read "Smokey says - Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!" The famous slogan of "Remember - Only you can prevent forest fires!" was created in 1947 by the Wartime Advertising Council. In 1948 another poster was created with Smokey Bear holding a shovel and standing next to deer, squirrels and birds with the message: "Another 30 million acres will burn this year - unless you are careful! Remember - only you can prevent forest fires!" Many artists took part in the creation of posters with the most notable being Rudolph Wendelin who painted for the CFFP program from 1949 up to 1973 when he retired. The living symbol of Smokey Bear started with an American black bear that was caught in the wildfire of the Lincoln National Forest. On May 4, 1950 and again on May 6, 1950 two forest fires were started, with one being caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt and the other by sparks from a cookstove, that burned 17,000 acres in the Capitan Gap fire in Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. The bear climbed a tree to escape the blaze burning his paws and hind legs. A game warden rescued him after the fire.  Initially the cub was called Hotfoot Teddy and was renamed Smokey Bear after the National Forest Service mascot. A local rancher who aided in the firefight took Smokey home but he needed veterniarian care and was taken to Santa Fe and cared for by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Ranger, Ray Bell, his wife Ruth, and children, Don and Judy. National attention was brought to the story of the rescued cub and Smokey Bear was soon after taken to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. where he remained until his death on November 9, 1976.  Smokey Bear was returned to Capitan, New Mexico and buried at Smokey Bear Historical Park. - Submitted by C. Anthony.