It can be all too easy to take the natural beauty that surrounds Highlands for granted.
Driving through thousands of acres of National Forest land, passing by numerous waterfalls and scenic overlooks does become routine after a while.
Cliffside Lake Recreation Area is easy to forget since it is out of sight and out of mind from any major roadway. On Saturday, Cliffside got its moment in the spotlight as the U.S. Forest Service hosted a birthday party for Smokey Bear. The day featured a number of events for children along with cake and ice cream. Educators stressed the importance of Highlands unique environment as well as Smokey’s traditional message of stopping forest fires.
Smokey Bear became the face of wildfire prevention in 1950, when a lone bear cub became trapped in a New Mexico forest fire. The cub was able to climb a tree and survive the blaze, but was badly burned in the process.
A fire and rescue crew removed the cub from the tree, and a rancher among the crew agreed to take him home. A New Mexico Department of Game and Fish ranger heard about the cub when he returned to the fire camp. He drove to the rancher’s home to help get the cub on a plane to Santa Fe, where his burns were treated and bandaged.
News about the little bear spread swiftly throughout New Mexico. The state game warden wrote to the chief of the U.S. Forest Service, offering to present the cub to the agency as long as the cub would be dedicated to a conservation and wildfire prevention publicity program. The cub was soon on his way to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., becoming the living symbol of Smokey Bear.
More than 70 years since the original Smokey Bear was rescued, the program bearing the cub’s name continues to foster the ideals of conservation in children.
There is no way to know how many times Smokey Bear’s message may have prevented an unintended wildfire, but one thing is for certain – Our beautiful National Forests are too important to take for granted.