Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Poster Contest

"ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES"

Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Poster Contest - Children from first through fifth grade are invited to participate in this annual drawing contest featuring conservation icons Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl! The U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and the National Garden Clubs, Inc., are giving students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of wildfire prevention and basic environmental conservation principles through original drawings of Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl.

Smokey Bear, the character, was created by the U.S. Forest Service in  August 1944 as the lead symbol in its Wildfire Prevention Campaign. However, there was a real, Smokey Bear, himself the victim of a forest fire as a young cub.  Smokey was born in 1950 in the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico, where he was found badly burned.  Despite the odds for survival, he was nursed back to health by veterinarians in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  In June of 1950 the US Forest Service transferred Smokey to the Smithsonian Zoo with the stipulation that his life be dedicated to forest fire prevention and wildlife conservation. What is now known as the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl Poster Contest began as an initiative of the New Mexico State Garden Club in 1958. In 1960, the National Garden Clubs decided to replicate this contest calling it the Smokey Bear Coloring Contest.

Resources

For more information, contact: Terry Critchlow National Garden Clubs, Inc. - Smokey Bear/Woodsy Owl Poster Contest Chairman