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Published: 10 July 2019 10 July 2019

Silver City, NM, July 10, 2019 – This August, Smokey will celebrate 75 years at the forefront of the Forest Service’s wildfire prevention campaign. To commemorate Smokey’s contributions to the U.S. Forest Service and wildfire prevention, replicas of historic portraits by artist Rudolph Wendelin will travel to National Forests across the country throughout 2019.

Mr. Wendelin created hundreds of Smokey representations that highlighted natural resource conservation and wildfire prevention. Under his direction, Smokey assumed the softer human features, ranger’s hat, jeans and shovel for which he is best known.

The touring exhibit consists of 16 replicas provided by the National Agricultural Library. The Gila National Forest is honored to host the tour beginning August 5 and running through August 8. The public may view these portrait replicas at the Gila National at 3005 E Camino del Bosque, Silver City, NM. Open house viewing hours are

As America’s sixth largest forest, the Gila National Forest has 3.3million acres of diverse terrain and a mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the forest to meet the needs of present and future generations.

For information on the Gila National Forest, check out our website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/gila