Smokey Bear Turns 80

The Big Sky Community Library celebrates an iconic mascot through a unique children’s reading challenge

By Leslie Kilgore EBS CONTRIBUTOR

Celebrating the 80th birthday of Smokey Bear, the U.S. Forest Service’s fire prevention icon, this year libraries around the country are partaking in a commemorative reading program through a unique partnership with the Forest Service and the Georgia Public Library Service.

The Big Sky Community Library’s national summer reading program, “Adventure Begins at Your Library” offers families the opportunity to also sign up for the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge happening through November.

Laine Hegness, BSCL’s children’s librarian, learned about Smokey Bear’s reading challenge while preparing for the community’s annual six-week summer reading program that begins in mid-June.

“We thought it was cool to be able to parallel two themes at the same time,” said Big Sky Community Library Director Erica Oglevie. “We are both big fans of Smokey. I grew up learning from Smokey when camping with my family and through Girl Scouts.”

Created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history, educating generations of Americans about their role in preventing wildfires. As one of the world’s most recognizable characters, with his catchphrase, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires”—adapted to “wildfires” in 2001—

Smokey Bear became one of the most well-known commercial messages of its time.

In 1952, an Act of Congress removed Smokey from the public domain and placed him under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture. The Act provided the use of collected royalties and fees for continued wildfire prevention education and is still in effect today.

“I love the idea that 50 years later children are still learning about Smokey and his messages about fire safety and our shared responsibilities when recreating in nature,” Oglevie said.

The Forest Service’s program includes children’s books that focus on conservation, wildfire prevention and scientific research. Children ages four to 10 can also write Smokey a letter, create poetry and take the Smokey Bear Pledge. The goal of the program is to promote reading at a young age while also teaching about fire safety and treating the wilderness and its inhabitants with respect and care.

“Smokey the Bear’s challenge is much more in-depth, and reading is only a small part of the challenges he has set for our junior rangers this year,” Oglevie said.

The Smokey Bear Reading Challenge is a National Forest Service program, but Oglevie said the library could not have brought it to Big Sky without a generous grant from the Moonlight Community Foundation.  

“We are grateful to the Moonlight Community Foundation for funding this reading challenge and are really excited about this joint program,” Oglevie said. “Teaching children to be advocates for nature is an investment in everyone’s future, Support for diverse educational opportunities such as this program will benefit our area for generations to come.”

To sign up for the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge, families can stop by the library to register and pick up a welcome bag through November.

The summer reading program will launch in June for six weeks, and information bags will be provided to all students at Ophir Elementary before the end of the school year.

For more information on Smokey Bear Reading Challenge and other Big Sky Community Library programs and events, visit bigskylibrary.com/reading-programs/.