Looks like it's going to take a little bit longer.
Well, does it look okay?
Good evening, dear hearts, and welcome to the show.
I'm Norman Johnson.
It is good to have you with us on what has been an unusual day.
We had a war that started and stopped all the same day, and not only that, we actually
saw sunshine for part of the day.
It was the first day in 19 days, I think, that we saw sunshine.
We have a very special guest tonight, and to sort of welcome our guest to the show tonight,
Lill and I thought we would do something a little bit special to welcome our guest.
You ready?
Okay.
We don't sing too often on this show, but here we go, Groot.
You ready?
I'm going to be with a ranger sat in shovel and a pair of dungarees, you'll find him in
the forest always sniffing at the breeze, people stop and pay attention when he tells
them to beware, because everybody knows that he's a fire prevention bear, smoky the bear,
smoky the bear, growling and growling and sniffing the air, he can smell a fire before
it starts to flame, that's why they call him Smoky, that's how he got his name.
All right, everybody, you know what we got great response to that, didn't you?
Yeah.
Okay, that's the show.
We'll see you next week about this time.
My guest tonight, last week we had Trooper Robo, the highway patrol robot, and tonight
we have Smoky Bear, or Smoky the Bear, I don't know if anybody's got a more controversial
name than that bear, and we're going to talk to Smoky and clear up once and for all what
his name really is, and we have had, as I understand it, some mass Panamonia on South
Street because last Wednesday night they were driving down the street and saw a robot,
tonight they're seeing bears, we want you to know there's nothing wrong with you, the
problem is with your set.
Boy, you've got a busy schedule these days.
Very busy.
You are.
Very busy.
In rehearsals for Camelot?
Yes.
Out at the Lamplight Theater, it starts next weekend?
No, actually it starts on January 29th.
Like I said, it doesn't start this weekend.
It starts January 29th, you play?
I am in the chorus, and I say about two lines, I'm Lady Ann.
You are Lady Ann.
Lady Ann.
And that's going to be good, I'm looking forward to a whole lot.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun, the singing and dancing.
The musical out at Lamplight is always the big event of the year, but I never knew, as
I met you, how much work goes into that.
You all are rehearsing just about six or seven nights a week.
We're rehearsing every night.
Every night.
And we will rehearse every night until opening night.
And several hours every night, about three or four hours a night, and longer.
And this week, the course is separate from the main characters in the play.
Next week, we'll get together and we'll do the staging and the choreography and that
type of thing.
There's about a hundred people in it, and if you don't do anything else in Nacogdoches
this year, go see Camelot.
That's the big event of the year.
The phone number for the trivia quiz, 564-8386, the prize is a $25 detail job from affordable
detail, and the question is, what American president invited a Pakistani Camel driver
to dinner at the White House?
Give us a call at 564-8386 right now, and we'll be right back.
People working closely together in the law office is 13, and finding qualified replacements
can really be time-consuming.
When one of our staff had a long-term illness, Fredonia Temperi took care of everything,
giving us valuable time.
Fredonia Temperi sent someone who fit right in.
They handle payroll costs like workers' compensation and unemployment insurance also.
I really recommend Fredonia Temperi's to anyone who's thinking of hiring office help.
I'm Stephen with Adam and Steve's Carpets on South Street.
We've been in business here in Nacogdoches for over 20 years, helping local folks with
all their floor covering needs.
If you have a new home or would simply like to give your old home a whole new look, come
shop with us at Adam and Steve's.
If you're in the market for carpet, no wax vinyls, ceramic tiles, hardwood floors, wallpaper
or mini blinds, we'll see to it that you find just the products you need at a price that
won't break your budget.
So come on in to see us at 1622 South Street and shop with folks who'll give you the kind
of service you used to expect from all merchants.
Ariel Blanc, Gold Medal, Los Angeles, 1986.
Ariel Ruse, as you know, wines are recognized by the metals they receive.
And as you'd expect, the same premium de-alcoholized wines served at the Nobel Prize ceremonies
in Oslo, Norway, is now a part of fine dining at Capellis.
Ariel wines maintain the flavor and bouquet of fine premium wine, but without the alcohol.
The perfect compliment to a meal at Capellis, a taste of something special, Capellis, North
Street, Nacogdoches.
This holiday season, let's join together in giving the gift of time.
In working with the Nacogdoches Community Coalition, we can unite together to promote
a safe and healthy environment where families can prosper, children can develop and learn,
and where individuals are valued for their uniqueness and cultural differences.
No matter what your religious beliefs or creed may be, this season in Nacogdoches is an opportunity
for us to rejoice and be thankful.
Happy holidays from the Nacogdoches Community Coalition.
Now, remember for the trivia quiz, if you happen to know which American president, and
this was a big deal when it happened, invited a Pakistani camel driver to dinner at the
White House, give us a call at 564-8386.
If you're the first to do that, it's going to be worth a free detail job from affordable
detail.
Greg Denon and all the gang down at South Street will make your car all spiffy and new.
It is always a privilege to meet living legends, whether it be a great star or whatever, and
my guest tonight is a living legend.
I would like for you to meet either Smokey Bear or Smokey The Bear.
First of all, welcome to the pineywood smoky.
It's a pleasure to be here, Norman.
I've been watching your show a lot and wanted to come in and talk about fire safety a bit
today.
Now, I want to talk, first of all, about your name.
Now, the song, I looked it up, the song is called Smokey The Bear, but there is some
question as to whether your name is Smokey Bear or Smokey The Bear.
Well, when my good friend Gene Autry sang that song, Norman, he needed to have the right
pacing for the words, and he asked me, do you mind if I put in Smokey The Bear in the
song?
Well, Gene Autry is one of my favorite cowboys, and I said okay, but we don't call him Easter
the Bunny, Santa the Claus, and you know, I've known you for a long time.
I don't call you Norman the Johnson, so I call you Norman Johnson and I'm Smokey Bear.
That's what I like.
And it's funny that you should ask, Norman, because all the boys and girls know me as Smokey
Bear.
They don't call me Smokey The Bear.
It's only those adults who sometimes forget what they learned as children that call me
Smokey The Bear.
But it is Smokey Bear.
Now, you've got a great job.
You just get out in the woods and look around, make sure there's no trouble and all that
sort of thing.
What's the best part about being the official bear of the Forest Service?
Well, it is a big job.
I take a lot of responsibility because people just think I just walk around in the woods.
Well, I walk around looking for fires because it would be like walking around your house,
making sure you have a smoke detector in your house.
I'm the forest smoke detector because the forest is my living room and I want to make
sure that there's no fires in my living room, of course, Norman.
Now, are most fires in the forest unavoidable, or are the fires that could be avoided?
A lot of fires could be avoided, unfortunately.
It's people playing with matches, dropping ashes, not putting out their campfires.
There are some that start by storms, but a lot of fires, unfortunately, start by humans.
And we bears don't start the fires, Norman.
Bear has never been known to start any fires.
But humans have been known to drop ashes or to not put out their campfires real good,
and that starts fire.
We call all the leaves and all the branches on the ground, we call that fuel.
Just like you need fuel in the car to make it go, well, that fuel on the ground makes
the fire go.
And so if you don't put out your campfire real good or you drop a match, it starts the
fire very quickly.
So most of it's just people being careless, now, I would imagine when there is a major
forest fire that not only is it caused a lot of damage to the beauty of the forest, but
it really inconveniences a lot of people, doesn't it?
It inconveniences a lot of people.
We have to have people come out and put out the fires.
There are people who live in the forest also, not just animals, but other people who live
in the fire.
And then also my good animal friends, the deers, the squirrels, the birds, they don't
have a place to live anymore when the forest is burned.
So they're homeless as a result of somebody else's carelessness.
Homeless, no place to eat, our kitchens are destroyed, our living room, we don't have
a place to sleep, so our bedroom, it's when it's a forest fire, it's like our house being
burned.
Now we're kind of lucky in this area, I think, to have some beautiful forest here in the
Piney Woods, and I know that everybody would like to take care of them.
What are some things that people who enter the forest can do to prevent fires?
Well they can do, if they're going to go in there, of course they don't want to be smoking
or playing with matches.
If they are camping out, we'd like to see them do what's called no-trace camping, which
means if you have a campfire, you put it out, you smother it, and you make sure it's out.
The other things they can do is just be observant and not try to do too much, because it's not
just a case of fires, it's a case that there are certain areas of the forest that they
have to be careful of, there might be some ravines or some slippery areas, and we just
want people to enjoy the forest, to keep on coming back and enjoying it.
So there are dangers that lurk in the forest aren't there?
Oh yes, oh yes, there are some dangers.
It's a very beautiful place to be if you stay on the trails, and if you get off the trails
you have to remember, here in Texas, it's easy to get lost in a forest because there
are so many trees and it's fairly flat or gently rolling hills, and you forget where
you are because it is such dense vegetation in many areas that you could be in that forest,
and I tell all my good boys and girls this, that just make sure you are with an adult
and you follow the trail so you can get in and out very easy.
What do you do if you're in the forest and you get lost?
Well, normally I've known as a bear that people tend to walk in circles and they tend to
walk in right handed circles, so if you get lost when you're in a forest, you should try
to stay put.
If you can, I know it's hard to do, or if you can know where the north is, or if you
see bright lights, head to those bright lights, but always you carry certain identification,
if you can carry a compass, if you're a young boy or girl, a lot of them now in school know
how to use a compass to tell the north, the other thing is always make sure that you tell
someone where you're going to be at all times.
Even though so many people here probably lived here all their life, and especially for people
who have moved here, there are thousands of acres of forest land to be enjoyed, but I'm
sure there's probably some rules and regulations that people ought to pay attention to.
Maybe if they're going into the woods to hunt that they might not be aware of.
Oh yes, we tell all hunters to wear what's called hunter orange, the bright orange vest
so they aren't confused with a deer or other animal or just a tree moving out there that
someone might fire at.
The other thing we ask is that people, if they put trash on the ground to pick it up
and bring it out with them, we bears don't want to step on cans because it's very painful
to step on a can with bear feet.
A little pun there, Norman, bear feet.
But we do want people to not litter in there, and we do want people to be very, very careful.
Follow the rules, treat the forest as though it's their living room.
When I was young, we didn't put our feet up on the trees, but we don't want people putting
there.
Try not, if you climb a tree, make sure you're very careful.
Don't try to chop trees down out there and observe wildlife.
If you see a bird, let it fly away.
Don't try to harm it in any way.
If you see a bear, let it on its way.
Don't even try to feed the bears because that can be very dangerous.
Is it a good idea when you go into one of the national forests to check in with somebody
to stop in an office and let them know you're around?
Always a good idea, Norman, to stop by a ranger office, introduce yourself to a ranger.
Rangers are very important.
They're good people.
They can tell you what's out there.
They can tell you maybe where a picturesque area is, where the flowers are.
In the spring, another two or three months, it's going to be dogwood season.
We have in the forest many acres of beautiful dogwood.
Some people like to go out and pick mayha berries.
We can tell you where the best place to pick those are.
Other times, rangers can tell you where the best place to get fish is or about a fishing
derby upcoming.
Yes, the rangers know everything.
They're pretty smart people.
They've got good training by me.
I'd like to thank you for coming on and I understand you brought a friend with you.
I brought one of my best friends.
He was a ranger out in Idaho.
He ranged about 300,000 acres, the biggest district we have in the forest.
Now he's in charge, number two in charge here of all of Texas.
The whole Ranger Ron Birch, everybody calls him Ranger Ron, a good man, very good man.
We will meet him right after this word from some of the folks that make the show possible.
I'm Stephen with Adam and Steve's Carpets on South Street, we've been in business here
in Nacodotus for over 20 years helping local folks with all their floor covering needs.
If you have a new home or would simply like to give your old home a whole new look, come
shop with us at Adam and Steve's.
If you're in the market for carpet, no wax vinyls, ceramic tiles, hardwood floors, wallpaper
or mini blinds, we'll see to it that you find just the products you need at a price that
won't break your budget.
So come on in to see us at 1622 South Street and shop with folks who will give you the kind
of service you used to expect from all merchants.
What I would give on hiring office workers is to let Fredonia Temperes handle it.
They can place people on a temporary basis or full time and if someone doesn't fit in,
there's no firing or rehiring.
Just call Fredonia Temperes for a replacement and paying a weekly bill is a lot easier than
handling all those payroll requirements.
Fredonia Temperes does that for you and all other people are pre-screened and tested so
that saves time and money.
I think calling Fredonia Temperes just makes good business sense.
Arielle Blanc, Gold Medal, Los Angeles, 1986.
Arielle Rouge, as you know, wines are recognized by the medals they receive.
And as you'd expect, the same premium de-alcoholized wines served at the Nobel Prize ceremonies
in Oslo, Norway, is now a part of fine dining at Capellis.
Arielle wines maintain the flavor and bouquet of fine premium wine but without the alcohol.
The perfect compliment to a meal at Capellis.
A taste of something special, Capellis North Street, Nacodotius.
This holiday season, let's join together in giving the gift of time.
In working with the Nacodotius Community Coalition, we can unite together to promote
a safe and healthy environment where families can prosper, children can develop and learn,
and where individuals are valued for their uniqueness and cultural differences.
No matter what your religious beliefs or creed may be, this season in Nacodotius is an opportunity
for us to rejoice and be thankful.
Happy holidays from the Nacodotius Community Coalition.
As I understand it, you still have time to win that detailed job from affordable detail.
The question earlier was, what American president invited a Pakistani camel driver to dinner
at the White House?
And I say it was a big deal when it happened and I understand we've had a bunch of calls,
but no winner.
And if you're listening, this is sort of a challenge to you because I don't know, you
won the last couple of three times and somewhere in this world there's a trivia question that
I can stump you with.
So if anybody knows the answer, give us a call right quick.
Ron Burch is with us, personal friend of Smokey Bear, and he is the deputy forest supervisor
for the national forests and grasslands.
It takes a whole letterhead just to write your title, doesn't it, Ron?
Sure does.
Now I'm going to let you, this is only a 30 minute show and you've done so much with
the Forest Service and in the area of conservation that I couldn't possibly include everything,
but give me sort of a little overview of your career.
Well, I've been with the national forest system for about 17 years now.
Started my career out of the University of Florida in South Carolina and then went to
Idaho, been in Oregon with the Forest Service.
Before coming here to Texas I spent some time in the Appalachians in Virginia and now in
the Piney Woods of East Texas.
How long have you been in the East Texas area?
About two years now.
How do our forests in the Piney Woods and in East Texas compare with forests in some
of the other areas of the country?
Oh, we have some of the best forest sites or lands for growing timber.
You mentioned the fact that we haven't had much sunshine, we've had lots of moisture
and it's that moisture or warm summers that creates an ideal environment for growing the
trees and the vegetation that we have in Texas.
And we just produce outstanding trees and forest setting here in Texas.
I don't know of anything that's more of a pleasure to do than to drive through the forest
here in the deepest Texas area.
And I know the Forest Service having been able to stay in touch with you guys through
the radio show and find out what's going on.
Just do so many things that people don't know about to make sure that the forest stay
in good condition and available to the people.
Now as I understand it, all of us heard, what was it, a year or so ago, maybe even less
of the Big Earth Summit in Rio.
It was not only controversial, but it was certainly well covered by the media.
And out of that has come, I think, what you all call an ecosystem management philosophy.
What is that philosophy?
Well, basically, the chief of the Forest Service, Dale Robertson, in Washington has directed
the Forest Service.
The guy that did the old Western movies.
No.
Not that Dale.
Not that Dale.
But a high-caliber individual anyway, right.
What he did back in June of this year after the Earth Summit was, is he made a decision
to move into what we call our ecosystem management philosophy or policy.
And what we're trying to do now is incorporate and make sure that when we do any activity
in the forest that we are looking at maintaining that ecosystem both in the short term and
in the long term.
And so we're only looking to remove from the forest system those outputs, water, recreation,
wildlife, timber, that we can sustain over time while not jeopardizing the long-term
productivity of that ecosystem out there.
How do you determine that?
Well, we hire the best people that the universities can provide to us.
We hire biologists.
We hire botanists.
We hire foresters.
We hire engineers.
We hire ecologists.
We hire all kinds of oligists.
I think that we have a caller with a question.
Is that correct?
I believe we do.
If somebody will flash the question for me here, we'll find out what it is.
I'm still so excited about meeting Smoky a little while ago.
We'll make you, okay, yeah.
We have a viewer that wants to know, does Smoky have a girlfriend?
We could have asked Smoky that a little while ago.
Yeah, that would probably be more appropriate.
That I don't know.
I haven't ever asked Smoky that.
We've always been on a very professional level.
Smoky is off-camera, and we can't get Smoky on camera, but I'm going to yell across the
room, does Smoky have a girlfriend?
I have a significant other, Norman.
A significant other.
Maybe her name is Smokyette.
I don't know.
I don't know, but if you know of somebody, maybe we can fix Smoky up.
Now, is the Forest Service becoming more environmentally aware in our current time than it was at one
time?
Environmentalism is a big thing right now, being environmentally correct.
Is there more of an effort on the part of the Forest Service to be, quote, environmentally
correct than it was in previous years?
No, I don't think so.
I think we've always been environmentally correct for the time.
Knowledge and information is coming at us so much quicker.
Research is providing us much newer information every day.
We've always been a leader in conservation and good sound environmental management.
Some of the terminologies changed.
We don't talk so much in terms of conservation as we do now in terms of ecosystem management
and ecology.
But the forerunners to that was conservation and forestry practices as we've known, and
they've evolved.
So I believe that we've always been environmentally conscious, but we are progressing and moving
along as society is.
In a moment, I'm going to go ahead and ask you the question we'll answer in a moment.
I want you to tell me a little bit about how all of this research and all of these developments,
what kind of practical effect they've had on our lives.
But first of all, we have another viewer's question.
Smoky is obviously very popular with the viewers, and that a viewer wants to know where is Smoky's
shovel?
Now, Smoky used to carry a shovel.
Does Smoky not do the shovel bit anymore?
I always carry a shovel, Norman, but like a good person, I leave it outside before I
come indoors.
You never carry a shovel inside.
That's a good bear.
What have been some of the...
Who are these people calling in tonight?
We've really got a weird audience tonight.
What are some of the practical applications of what we've learned as a result of the forest?
Well, we've determined that we can accomplish a lot of our activities with less intensive
timber management such as we're not doing as much clear cutting, we're doing more seed
tree type cuts where we leave the seed source out there, natural seed source.
We're reducing the intensity of our site preparation in order to get the new pine trees growing
and the new hardwoods growing.
We've learned how to do that through research and development.
A lot of that goes right on here in Stephen F. Austin University here at the Forestry
School.
Yeah, we have, I think, one of the outstanding Forestry Schools at SFA recognized around
the nation.
One thing that I just recently learned, and there are probably a lot of people watching
the show that don't know, that the various counties in around our forest area here receive
money from the forest, right?
Right.
Tell me about that.
Well, this past year, in 1992, from the receipts that we received for the sale of the timber
off the national forest, the counties that have national forest lands within their boundaries
receive 25% of those receipts, and this year that amounted to $3.5 million.
And those dollars are earmarked for education that has to be used for the schools and the
roads.
It can't be used for any other purpose other than schools and roads.
I've been out on some of our Nacogdoches County roads.
I don't think our checks got here yet.
Well, hopefully we're using it in the schools.
Ah, schools, that's what it is.
Do you have any idea how much Nacogdoches County gets if you've heard anybody say?
That I don't know by the county breakout.
I don't know.
I'd have to research that and get back to you.
We'll see if we can find out about that.
We've only got a couple of minutes before we go off, but I don't think people realize
just how important the forest is to our DPS Texas area.
It is, it's a major industry.
Yes, it is.
Not only in the light of producing timber, but it produces hunting opportunities, which
brings in a lot of folks during the hunting season that generates income for local industry
tourism, the fact of the spring time, a lot of people come up in the area to look at the
dogwoods and in the fall even come up and look at our colors.
A lot of people think about the Appalachians for colors, but we have fabulous colors here
in the fall.
So it's a major source for tourism, involvement, and even just natural resources.
So everybody benefits from the Forest Service in some way or the other.
Anything else generally you'd like to say to the public that maybe I haven't touched
on that people don't know?
Well just other than that they have over 639,000 acres of their land out here, the National
Forest in Texas, are the lands of the people of the United States.
And it's making money for us.
And it's making money and it's providing environmental buffers to the global warming
and those issues that are going on.
And it's out there to be enjoyed and we want people to come out and enjoy them.
Alright, great Ron.
I appreciate you being with us and maybe we'll do this again before too long.
Alright, great.
Love to come back.
You can bring Smokey back with you.
Okay.
Hey, I stumped everybody.
We did not have a winner tonight.
We appreciate everybody calling and trying.
And tomorrow morning on the radio show I will let you know who the frog will go ahead and
tell you.
It was Lyndon Johnson.
Ha, ha, ha.
We'll come to that time.
Hey, we've got to go.
We'll see you tomorrow morning on the radio at 7 a.m.
Until then, bless your house, dear hearts.
