In 1950, a careless act turned into tragedy when a fire burned wild and swept away over 17,000 acres of forest watershed land in the Capitan Mountains, Lincoln National Forest. When the fire had died off, a badly burned cub was rescued from a charred tree. This cub, later named “Smokey,” was taken to the National Zoo where he lived out the rest of his life. Smokey was soon used to create an animated bear aimed at informing people of forest fires and fire prevention. The “Smokey the Bear” ad campaign was extremely ef ....