Champion Gets Smokey Bear Award

WOODBINE – Tom Champion, 87, received the Smokey Bear Award Sept. 2, recognizing his efforts leading a fire prevention program since 1981 at Belleplain State Forest. 
The Marmora resident has been a seasonal employee at the state forest for 57 years. His love to “talk” and for children has kept him motivated through the years.
“Some people love to hunt or fish,” he said. “Well, I love to talk. I love talking to people about the park and its history.”
He received the Bronze Smokey Bear award during a ceremony held the day after the annual Smokey Bear birthday party. That is held the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
It begins with a coloring contest for “kids of all ages, including adults,” explained park Superintendent Lorraine McCay. It’s because of his efforts with the birthday party that Champion won the award.
The winners of the coloring contest, which teaches about fire prevention, receive Smokey Bear dolls. “To see the little kids so excited to win a doll just breaks your heart,” Champion said. “That’s the only reason I’m still working and doing this.” 
The Bronze Smokey Bear award has been awarded annually since 1962. From 1962 – 1979 it was referred to as the Smokey Bear plaque.
The Bronze Smokey Bear award is presented for outstanding contributions to statewide wildfire prevention efforts. Ten Bronze-level awards were given nationwide according to McCay.
The earliest version of the Smokey Bear awards began in the mid-1950s, in the form of scrolls given as awards for fire prevention activities.
Today, a statuette ala the Hollywood Oscar, in the shape of Smokey Bear, is presented by the four partners in the fire prevention campaign — the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program, National Association of State Foresters, the Advertising Council and the USDA Forest Service.
At the birthday party, Smokey Bear arrived by helicopter, allowing photos to be taken and presented after cake and the singing of “Happy Birthday.” Children under 16 are also eligible to win Smokey Bear prizes, reinforcing how to prevent forest fires and all organized by Champion.
“I was shocked to learn that I was receiving this award,” he said.
McCay said Champion works on the fire prevention program year-round, getting sponsors and raising funds to support it. The program began a year before Champion took over, and he’s expanded it throughout the years.
Hired initially as a night ranger, Champion worked at his family’s sawmill full-time during the day and then at the forest nightly.
He’s also co-authored a book about the park’s history, remembering “when they dug the lake by hand, and just opened the campgrounds.”
Now, as a seasonal visitor services assistant, Champion delights in sharing the history and how to prevent fires.
Belleplain State Forest was established in 1928 by the state for recreation, wildlife management, timber production, and water conservation.
In 1933, three camps were set up by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Reforestation Relief Act, supplying labor to the forest over an eight-year period.
The CCC converted Meisle Cranberry Bog into Lake Nummy, a popular swimming, boating, and fishing area.
They also constructed the original forest headquarters, maintenance building, a road system, bridges, and dams.
Smokey Bear was a cub orphaned as a result of a large fire in New Mexico in 1950. While about 30 firefighters survived being caught in the direct line of the fire, the little cub did not fare as well.
He took refuge in a tree that became completely charred, escaping with his life but also with badly burned paws and hind legs.
The 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. Soon, his story was broadcast nationwide, and many people wrote and called, asking about the cub’s recovery.
The state game warden wrote to the chief of the 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.
Smokey received numerous gifts of honey and so many letters he had to have his own ZIP code.
He remained at the zoo until his death in 1976, when he was returned to his home to be buried at the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, N.M., where he continues to be a wildfire prevention legend.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.