Only YOU can prevent wildfires with new Smokey Bear license plate

Who’s the most famous New Mexican?

For Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Glencoe — a former fire chief — it’s Smokey Bear.

The U.S. Forest Service’s most recognizable mascot has been educating the public about wildfires since 1944. But for several New Mexico legislators, the bear’s absence is felt in one place: the road. Vincent and several other lawmakers pushed once again this year to bring Smokey Bear to New Mexican license plates.

After vetoing the effort last year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law the day before her deadline to do so this year. The passage comes on Smokey Bear’s 80th anniversary.

The Legislature also passed a memorial this year marking Jan. 23 Smokey Bear Day, recognizing the popular figure that has his own postage stamp and is the only “person” to have his own ZIP code besides the president.

“I’ve always been around Smokey Bear,” Vincent said. “He’s real special to Lincoln County.”

Smokey’s history

The character Smokey Bear predates the bear himself. In 1944, the Forest Service introduced the iconic felt-hatted bear.

But a few years later, in 1950, an orphaned bear cub was found in the fire-struck Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. Originally known as “Hotfoot Teddy” – the cub’s paws were burnt – he was dubbed Smokey Bear after the character.

“As soon as we saw he was going to live, we started calling him Smokey,” Ray Bell, a New Mexico Game and Fish department employee who cared for the cub after his rescue, said in a 1975 Albuquerque Journal story. “We thought it would be nice to have a living symbol.”

In the story about Smokey’s “retirement” in 1975, Bell said he and his family kept the cub — which weighed just a few pounds when he was found — in a washing machine on their back porch.

After being nursed back to health, Smokey gained celebrity status. Smokey was whisked away to Washington, D.C. He lived to be 26, or about 70 years in human years. He is buried in his hometown of Capitan, now the site of the Smokey Bear Historical Park.

The park gets more than 20,000 visitors a year and has informative wildfire exhibits for guests, according to the state’s natural resources department. There’s also a Fallen Firefighter Memorial on the grounds honoring more than 30 wildland firefighters who died while fighting wildfires in New Mexico.

This year, the park is celebrating Smokey Bear’s birthday May 3-4 with a parade, folk music festival, kids games, educational events and more. Additionally, Lincoln County annually celebrates Smokey with a parade, which will fall on July 2 this year.

Mary Lavin, manager of Smokey Bear Historical Park, said the new law fits so well with the nationwide celebration of Smokey’s 80th birthday.

“Smokey’s been so successful for all of these years in connecting one person at a time with understanding that they can make a difference,” she said.

The bill

The bill sailed through the House and Senate in the final days of the session, with a unanimous vote in both chambers.

Vincent said Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said he doesn’t typically vote for license plate bills. But Vincent said Smokey Bear wanted just one thing for his birthday — a vote from McQueen.

McQueen ultimately voted in favor of the measure.

“I really want to give a shoutout to my colleague from across the aisle, Rep. McQueen,” Vincent said. “We had a lot of fun with that. It just shows how bipartisan stuff can really work.”

But not everyone was as thrilled. In the governor’s signature message, she called it “relatively inconsequential legislation” that could distract the Legislature from “focusing on more important bills” in the hectic 30-day session.

“I note the Legislature has corrected the issues that sent HB251’s predecessor up in smoke last session,” Lujan Grisham wrote. “While I understand it must have been unbearable to receive my veto message last year, I urge you to see the forest through the trees and bear in mind the limited time the Legislature has … especially during the last few days in the session.”

The Smokey Bear license plate bill was the final bill to pass the 2024 session.

Oregon, Texas and Washington also offer Smokey Bear license plates.

How to get the plate

Smokey will become one of 44 special New Mexico license plates — that is, if the state can ink a licensing agreement with the Forest Service first. Charlie Moore, director of communications for the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue, said he expects the plates will be available by early summer.

The initial license plate fee will be $50, and there will be an annual $40 renewal fee.

Most of that money goes to the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. EMNRD spokesperson George Ducker said it specifically goes to the Smokey Bear Historical Park.

Ducker said the natural resources agency will also use the dollars as matching funds for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund that the department can use to apply for Smokey Bear Historical Park upgrades.

“Given the popularity of Smokey nationally, and within the state of New Mexico, it makes great sense that we should not only have the specialty plate for motorists in the state, but that funds generated by those plates go right to the source of Smokey’s heritage and history,” Ducker said via email.

Last year, specialty plates brought in $1.9 million for the state and the causes and organizations supported by their sales.

Lujan Grisham was the “bad news bear” when she vetoed the bill last year because she deemed it costly. This year, lawmakers included safeguards so if New Mexicans aren’t buying and renewing enough license plates, the MVD will stop issuing them.

But what will the new plate look like?

“The statute for this type of specialty plate is fairly restrictive when it comes to design,” Moore said. “... So, it will look something like the recent Acequias plate — yellow background with red lettering, a logo on the left and some kind of messaging above or below the plate number.”

The plate will be required to display the phrases “New Mexico USA” and “Land of Enchantment,” but will leave a space for the special character.

Smokey Bear accepts letters at Smokey Bear, Washington, D.C., 20252.