Green Options

The nostalgic bear that educates the public on the dangers of wildfires turns 65, today! Smokey Bear’s first public poster release was August 9, 1944. In case you don’t know, Smokey Bear is one of the most recognized symbolic images of the United States Forest Service.

According to Wikipedia, Smokey Bear is often unofficially referred to as ”Smokey the Bear” after two songwriters added the word “the” for rhythm purposes. Smokey Bear vigilantly reminded us with his popular slogan “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires”. It wasn’t until April of 2001 that his message was updated to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” which included all unwanted, unplanned fires in natural areas.

When I think of campfires, I envision the fictional character, Smokey Bear. Growing up, there were posters of “Smokey the Bear” plastered on every classroom wall. I can even remember the commercials. A recent study proved 95% of those surveyed could finish the sentence when given the first words of his famous slogan.

A major infestation of the mountain pine beetle, a scourge stretching from New Mexico, in the U.S., to British Columbia, Canada, has been turning vast areas of formerly green pine forests to rust red, and slowly killing them.

The beetle infestation has been growing “exponentially” since 2006-07, according to the Forest Service management team in Laramie, Wyoming, and has so far claimed millions of acres of pine forest in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming. North of the border, British Columbia has already lost over 33 million acres of lodgepole pine forest due to the ravages of this type of bark beetle. And more recently (in 2008), Alberta province is come under threat due to an aberrant wind storm that apparently lofted the beetles across the continental divide.

The lands that will be opened are in Alaska and 11 western states. It is believed that the geothermal energy in time could provide electricity to 5.5 million homes.