Historic Smokey Portraits on Display at Tonto National Forest

This year 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 replicas provided by the National Agricultural Library.

The replicas are on display at the Tonto National Forest Supervisor’s Office from February 18 – March 2, 2019.