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Many people, even those who have lived in New Mexico for a while, might be under the impression that “Capitan’s favorite son,” the real-life Smokey Bear, is the inspiration behind the creative poster-campaign Smokey who tells us, “Only you can prevent wildfires.” However, an artist’s illustrated representation of the bear, complete with the park ranger uniform and shovel, predates the discovery of the badly-burned and orphaned cub.
Mary Lavin, the park manager for the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan says, “It would make sense that the bear came first. The living symbol came first and the campaign came after, but that’s not the way it happened.”
Just after the iconic, anthropomorphic bear turned 80, Lavin gave The Paper. a history lesson on Smokey, and how a local New Mexico story spread across the country to Washington D.C. and eventually, the whole world. She also gave The Paper. the low-down on everything to know when traveling to Capitan and the beautiful mountainous country surrounding it.
“We here at the Smokey Bear Historical Park celebrate two birthdays: One, the official Smokey Bear birthday, which is August 9, and then we also celebrate what I affectionately call ‘Gotcha Day,’” Lavin says. “If you were adopting a child, the child would have his birthday and then would have a celebration of the adoption day. We do that here as well. We call it Smokey Bear Days, which happens in May.”
Lavin says that the fictional Smokey was created, in part, as a national security measure. During WWII, Japanese submarines were actively patrolling the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards equipped with weapons called incendiary bombs. The idea, Lavin says, was to launch the bombs into U.S. forests to attack one of our most important resources for the war — lumber for producing paper. The National War Ad Council — now the National Ad Council — created Smokey Bear for two reasons: To prevent human-caused forest fires by convincing the American public to be more cautious in the woods, and to be watchful and report smoke or suspicious activity.
“The idea of a bear just took hold right away because the bear can stand up right. You can put pants on a bear, put a hat on a bear, give him a shovel, Lavin says. “And if he tells you to do something or not to do something, you’re gonna pay attention to the bear. And so that idea was just fully embraced.”
Lavin says a fire crew rescued the “tiny little guy who had been badly burned” from the human-caused Capitan Gap forest fire May 9, 1950. Smokey came into the custody of Ray Bell, a New Mexico game and fish warden, who came up with the idea of connecting the true story of the bear cub to the national wildfire prevention program. The lucky little bear — originally named Hotfoot Teddy — lived 26 years as a celebrity in the nation’s capital city.
“The real Smokey — the living symbol — was sent to the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington, D.C., to become a wildfire prevention ambassador. People would come to Washington and they would see the Smithsonian museums and stop by the zoo. He had over 4 million people visit the Smithsonian Zoo every year, and most of them would stop by and pay their respects.”
Smokey’s campaign is managed by the National Ad Council, the Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. Smokey Bear Historical Park was established in 1979 to honor the real-life Smokey’s passing. The New Mexico State Park is managed and operated by the New Mexico Forestry Division. It is also his final resting place and home to the New Mexico Wildland Fallen Firefighter Memorial. Lavin says it was important to the state of New Mexico and the people of Capitan to have Smokey brought back home.
Besides mixing up which bear came first, the fictional character or the real bear, people tend to call him “Smokey the Bear” instead of “Smokey Bear.”
“You won’t get a black eye, I promise,” Lavin says. “People do it all the time here, but you will get corrected if you come to Capitan.”
Recent wildfires in the area near Capitan have paradoxically boosted community interest in fire prevention while preventing local travelers from actually making the trip to the park.
“Visitation in the area has been affected because people are not sure what to expect when they come,” Lavin says. “Smokey Bear Historical Park hasn’t been affected at all with regards to the facility or anything, but the community really has been impacted largely by the fires and then the subsequent floods. So the message makes more sense now, perhaps because people are listening, right? When a catastrophe happens, people become very interested in what happened and how we can prevent it from happening again.”
There is more to see around Capitan than Smokey Bear Historical Park, and Lavin has the inside scoop on the best areas and attractions to visit in the area.
Lincoln, New Mexico, is 57 miles west of Roswell and just south of the Lincoln National Forest. Best known for being the home of Billy the Kid, the whole village is a historic district, complete with supposedly haunted ghost towns. The village holds an annual festival in August which includes a reenactment of “The Last Escape of Billy the Kid.” About 20 miles from Capitan lies the Valley of Fires, a Bureau of Land Management area in the El Malpais lava fields.
And of course, there’s the Lincoln National Forest, which is where they found Smokey Bear. The forest has ample recreational opportunities such as trails, campgrounds and spots for birders and people who like to “nerd out on trees” as Lavin puts it.
Since the quickest route to Capitan from Burque is to take I-25 South then head west at the San Antonio exit, there are a couple of spots well worth stopping to eat. Two burger joints boast the best green chile cheeseburgers in the world, and they are right across Highway 380 from each other.
The Owl Bar and Cafe hasn’t changed their “Owl Burger” recipe since 1948 because it ain’t broke, so why fix it? If travelers can get a seat at the bar, they can try and count the owls adorning the walls and occupying the same shelves as the liquor bottles, while drinking a Miller High Life with their piping hot lunch — the burger can make it from the grill to the plate hot enough to burn your mouth. Leave your mark — literally — by signing a dollar bill and tacking it to the wall, a tradition at the Owl.
While The Owl has quirkiness and street cred, The Buckhorn Tavern has credentials. Their green chile cheeseburger has been named No. 7 in the list of GQ Magazine’s “hamburgers you must eat before you die.” The Buckhorn was also featured on a 2009 episode of “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” where their burger beat Flay’s.
A trip to Capitan might take travelers through some of the most beautiful places in the state, but hopefully it will make them think about the fragility of those places.
“[Smokey’s] message is more important now than ever before for people to understand how to work, live, and play responsibly in the forest, woodlands and grasslands. We have the most recognized iconic figure — second only to Santa Claus — in the world,” Lavin says. “It’s a foothold to get this really important message out to the public in a really positive way.”
If you can’t make the drive, you can take a Virtual Tour of Smokey Bear Historical Park.