Teachers, students and the general public are invited to register now at www.smokeybearlive.org to take part in SmokeyBearLIVE, a virtual field trip live from Capitan – Smokey Bear’s birthplace.
This event is a distance learning adventure to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Smokey Bear wildfire prevention campaign. Visit https://SmokeyBearLIVE.org to register to take part in the virtual field trip and download lesson plans and other resources about Smokey Bear and wildfire prevention.
There will be two webcasts about Smokey Bear including a pretaped video, “Smokey Bear LIVE: Only You Can Prevent Wildfires,” that will be webstreamed at https://SmokeyBearLIVE.org beginning Oct. 6, in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week. Participants can learn about Smokey’s history as a national icon, the bear cub that was found and became the living symbol of Smokey, and Smokey Bear’s fire prevention message.
On Nov.7, New Mexico PBS, KRWG, and KENW in conjunction with the USDA Forest Service and the Prince William Network, will produce the LIVE webcast from Smokey Bear’s birthplace in Capitan. The webcast will take place from the area where Smokey Bear was found as an injured cub and returned to be buried. This is an interactive program in which students and others can send in questions about Smokey, wildfire prevention, firefighting in the past and now, how to prevent wildfires and more to scientific experts who will answer the questions during the webcast.
The Smokey Bear campaign began in 1944 as part of the war effort to protect forested land from being burned by unwanted human-caused wildfires, so this is the 75th anniversary of the Smokey Bear icon. In 1950 an injured bear cub became the living symbol of Smokey and spent his life promoting fire prevention from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
During this distance learning adventure, participants learn how natural resource managers and communication specialists have worked together to promote Smokey’s message to significantly reduce the number of wildfire and protect lives and property for millions of people.
