Smokey may have overdone it

The black bear cub rescued from the Bitterroot Valley forest fire sits in a kennel at a veterinary clinic in Hamilton, Montana, on Sunday

Prevention message may share blame for outsized blazes

DARBY, Montana (CNN) -- When a forest ranger emerged from Montana's blackened Bitterroot Valley last week with a skinny, fire-scarred black bear cub, observers immediately were reminded of Smokey Bear.

The cartoon mascot of the U.S. Forest Service, introduced in 1942 and named after an assistant fire chief in New York, came to life in 1950 when a burned cub was rescued from a New Mexico forest fire and given the mascot's name, Smokey.

The rescued bear charmed the American public and, in residence at the Nation Zoo in Washington, D.C., became the living counterpart to the pen-and-ink character, spokesbear to generations of U.S. school children.

RESOURCES Click here to view the National Interagency Fire Center's map of large wildland fires Click here to view satellite images of the wildfires (NOAA Web site)    WEATHER FORECASTS Montana   • Big Sky   • Bozeman   • Butte   • Hamilton   • Helena   • Missoula Wyoming   • Yellowstone National Park Idaho   • Boise     ALSO U.S. wildfires outpace supply of firefighters Wildfires spoil vacationers' plans out West 'Dry lightning' sparking and sustaining Western wildfire cycles A prosperous town anxiously waits as flames approach     MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

"Only YOU," the dungarees-clad cartoon Smokey sternly exhorted, "can prevent forest fires."

Smokey seemed to be telling us that forest fires were bad. Certainly the Bitterroot Valley fire was not kind to the cub rescued last week. Rangers believe the cub's mother was killed in the blaze, and he barely survived on creek water and burned deer meat until his rescue on Saturday.

But some observers say the original Smokey may have done too good a job with his message. Critics of the fire-prevention message say forest fires have been eliminated to the point where too much fuel is allowed to build up in forests, leading to greater disaster when a blaze does start.

Usually, when a forest catches on fire, most larger animals are able to escape, said Bobby Kitchens of the U.S. Forest Service. "I guess it's instinct or smoke or something," Kitchens said.

Because forest fires burn in random patterns, wildlife, especially larger animals, often can find refuge in so-called "green islands" that the flames have bypassed or only slightly burned.

What's more, Kitchens pointed out, "for some animals, after the fire -- especially a year later, two years later -- the habitat is better than it was before the fire."

That may be true for the little Montana cub. Once he has recovered, biologists hope to release him back into the Montana wild where -- he should be pleased to learn -- fires have also delayed the opening of hunting season.

CNN Correspondent Greg Lefevre contributed to this report.

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Smokey Bear
GORP - Bitterroot National Forest
USDA Forest Service

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