Visitors and New York state Forest Ranger Hannah O’Connor help Smokey Bear celebrate his 80th birthday Friday, June 28 at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid. From left, the kids are Mason Sabin, Ben Arnold and Isaac Arnold. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

LAKE PLACID — Happy birthday, Smokey.

Smokey Bear celebrated his 80th birthday at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site on Friday, June 28. The party doubled as the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge kick-off. He celebrated with kids who took the Smokey Bear Pledge and went from table to table earning environmental education badges.

The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Adirondack Mountain Club, Mountain Lake PBS, Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest and the Lake Placid Public Library handed out badges to the children.

“It’s great for the kids to be able to come out and get excited not just about reading but about the environment as well,” Lake Placid Public Library Assistant Librarian Karen Armstrong said.

Armstrong also extended her thanks to John Brown Farm for volunteering their grounds for the event. Trish Friedlander, Sandy DaNussi and Peter Lynch were the library’s volunteers on June 28.

Grace Harvey and her older brother Jordan receive badges from Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute intern Abigail during Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday party on Friday, June 28 at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Ranger Hannah O’Connor escorted Smokey and posed with him for pictures with the kids.

Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Adam Wild taught kids about different kinds of trees.

Adirondack Mountain Club Outreach Coordinator Eliza Phillips explained to the kids how compasses work.

“I got another badge!” exclaimed young Grace Harvey as she proudly presented her badge with older brother Jordan in front of the AWI table, where intern Abigail sat and handed out badges.

Kids earned badges for completing at least one activity at each table. Different activities included drawing a picture of Smokey demonstrating one of his safety tips, discovering the name of the state tree or writing a poem about campfire safety.

Adirondack Mountain Club Outreach Coordinator Eliza Phillips poses at Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday celebration on Friday, June 28 at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

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Reading challenge

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The Smokey Bear Reading Challenge encourages kids to read three or more books on wildfire prevention or the environment. Smokey has a reading list full of book ideas at https://tinyurl.com/3je3efht. Learn more about Smokey Bear and the reading challenge at smokeybear.com.

The “Over and Under” series by local author Kate Messner is on the reading list along with picture books, chapter books, secondary books and adult books.

Adam Wild, director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, teaches Maceo, Ceanna, Isa and Genevieve about different types of trees during Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday party at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

Though the opportunity to participate is offered to many libraries, they are not required to participate.

“We were offered the opportunity to participate via the wonderful people at the Clinton Essex Franklin Library System,” Armstrong said.

She said the challenge fit perfectly with the Lake Placid Public Library’s summer programming. The challenge is simply designed to encourage children and their families to explore the outdoors and learn.

Enrollment is still open for the reading challenge. and Armstrong said many local children have enrolled in the challenge since June 28.

Families may stop into the library on Main Street and pick up a Smokey Bear Reading Challenge log. Armstrong extended thanks to Stewart’s Shops for offering free ice cream certificates to kids who complete the challenge on or before Aug. 9. The reading log can also be downloaded at https://tinyurl.com/nmzwzwtt.

In April 2023, there was a high danger of wildfires, as depicted by this Smokey Bear sign at the time in front of state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 5 headquarters in Ray Brook. In July 2024, there was a low danger of wildfires. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

The library has events planned to help anyone learn about and explore the outdoors. Details about these events are listed on their website at lakeplacidlibrary.org.

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Smokey Bear

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Smokey doesn’t actually turn 80 years old until Aug. 9. The idea of Smokey was born in 1944 when the USDA Forest Service and the Ad Council decided he would be the face of forest fire prevention. He was given his famous slogan “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fire!” in 1947, which was changed to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” in 2001.

A real bear cub earned the name Smokey in 1950 when he was rescued by firefighters from a New Mexico forest fire. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. became his home until 1976 when he died. He was returned to New Mexico to be buried in what is now known as Smokey Bear Historical Park.

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Cause of wildfires

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According to the DEC, the leading cause of wildfires in New York state is humans. Data on the DEC website from 1993 to 2017 reports that the leading cause of wildfires in both the Adirondack region and the Adirondack High Peaks region is campfires.

Also on the website, the DEC lists the following safety tips for building, maintaining and extinguishing campfires.

– Avoid burning on windy days.

– Avoid building a fire near overhanging branches, steep slopes, rotten stumps, logs, dry grass and leaves. Keep extra wood away from the fire.

– If possible, use existing campfire rings rather than building new ones.

– Keep fires below 3 feet in height and under 4 feet in diameter.

– Keep water nearby to control and extinguish the fire if needed. Never leave a fire unattended.

– To extinguish, drown the fire and stir the remains. Add more water and stir again to ensure there are no burning embers underneath. If you do not have any water, use dirt instead.

The Ray Brook Region 5 DEC headquarters has a fire danger sign out front, which features an image of Smokey Bear. Though the fire danger was low as of Wednesday, July 10, the DEC says to always take precautions when building a campfire in the forest.

For more information on camping safety and wildfires, visit the DEC website at dec.ny.gov.