Winners' Gallery

Project Synopsis:

How You Can Do The Same:

Fire Prevention, Education, Information and Investigation, Bureau of Land Management - Boise District

Project Synopsis:

How You Can Do The Same:

Project Synopsis:

How You Can Do The Same:

Visual Information Specialist, USFS Daniel Boone National Forest

Project Synopsis:

Promotional Techniques:

• Utilized software to produce posters that communicate with color, visual appeal, and simplicity to draw a person’s interest to the message. Has brought to life campaigns, posters, brochures, flyers, and many other products through graphic art.
• Put documents into language understood by printers to get quality products in a very short timeframe.
• Dedicated to educating agencies and team members in assignments on how their efforts can be more efficient in the product development process. Has given briefings in Texas and Utah on how to take pictures at the right resolution and orientation to have the pictures be useful for the document being created.
• Employed knowledge on copyright and trademark regulations that have helped prevent inadvertent inclusion of things on a poster that could derail the effort due to legal errors.
• Has been utilized in website development for national wildfire prevention work.
• Has used tools such as Dropbox and other cloud-based options to make work available to many states, agencies, localities and individuals.
• Worked on a Utah prevention team where a prevention specialist wanted a product that stood out to passing motorists. Gwen heard him mention a color in passing that originally drew laughs, but the product she produced was a sign in neon green that was extremely effective and well received by the host agency.

Impact:

• The Stop Arson Campaign in Kentucky, which utilized her depiction of a child at a burned home, has been widely used by several agencies around the country. In reviewing the fire occurrence statistics, the thirteen years prior to the Stop Arson campaign the Daniel Boone National Forest averaged 123 fires per year; in the thirteen years since implementing the Stop Arson campaign that number dropped to an average of 71 fires per year.
• Was tasked as a technical specialist on a FPET to bring the graphic artistry to a range of products for the state of Texas. During a two- week assignment, 24 products were developed covering a range of Ready-Set-Go, arson prevention, range wildfire prevention, and a host of other products.

Best Practices:

• Applied her background and knowledge of printing to create quality products in a short timeframe.
• Dedication and thoroughness when educating agencies and their team members on how to have a more efficient product development process through briefings.
• Understands and enforces Smokey Bear rules, appropriate use of logos, federal printing and publishing requirements, copyright law, and legal use of photos and images keeping everyone out of trouble.

How You Can Do The Same:

Project Synopsis:

Promotional Techniques:

• Utilized trending topics and pop culture events, while infusing Smokey’s prevention message into commentary posted on social media.
• Participated in a weekly #ThrowbackThursday photo posting.
• Capitalized on existing partnerships between USFS and other organizations dedicated to exploring, appreciating and protecting our natural resources.

Impact:

• Established a strong online social media presence, including 178,000 Facebook fans, 21,000 Twitter followers and 555,000 views of Smokey’s YouTube videos.
• Exceeded its goal of inspiring online conversation and promoting ongoing information sharing among the online audience.
• Produced an annual 69.1 million Twitter impressions and 87.4 million Facebook impressions. Through these impressions, Smokey’s social media program has driven over 20,000 users to SmokeyBear.com, where they can learn and pledge to take proper safety precautions when using fire outdoors.

Best Practices:

• Used Smokey’s online media presence to capitalize on social media conversations, such as creating buzz around the similarities between Pharrell’s hat choice at the Grammy Awards and Smokey’s hat. This comparison resulted in over 36,000 tweets, 180 stories on national outlets and 58.5 million digital impressions.

How You Can Do The Same:

Assistant Director, Resource Protection

Project Synopsis:

• His assistance in building the “Living with Fire” publication, which reached 13 states.
• Developing wildfire prevention advertisements that aired from 2005 to 2009 for the Little League World Series.
• Creating the “OUC” (Only You Can) car window decal, which mimics other popular three-letter “destination” decals.;
• Developing a prevention website and blog.

Impact:

• The Smokey Bear Big Story Book, a flip-style storybook about Smokey Bear, which was published on Smokey’s 65th birthday and serves as the main national wildfire prevention tool for introducing young children to Smokey Bear.
• More than 30,000 prevention-focused wall and pocket calendars produced in the last decade.

Promotional Techniques:

Best Practices:

• Partnerships: Worked cooperatively with local, state and federal government organizations, fire associations and members of general public in 20 states.
• Patchwork Funding: Leveraged contacts across agencies with creative fundraising, allowing for significant promotion of wildfire prevention products over many years.

• Kevin developed the Outdoor Explorer Program which provides outdoor education and experiences to children with mental and physical disabilities to help them to engage in the outdoors and learn critical fire prevention tips. Kevin eventually helped replicate this type of program across state lines to Wyoming and Utah.
• He helped the Upper Snake Interagency Working Group coordinate wildland fire prevention efforts through several fire departments and agencies in and around the greater Idaho Falls area.
• He organized training sessions with the National Fire Academy’s Juvenile Fire-Setter Intervention Specialist for local fire and law enforcement agencies.

• With additional training, local fire and law enforcement agencies were able to identify the specific causes of human-caused wildfires more accurately, enabling these agencies to more effectively target prevention campaigns and activities.
• Over the past five years, the average number of human caused wildfires has decreased by 33% in and around Idaho Falls.

• Kevin worked with other federal and local agencies to improve fire prevention outreach by better understanding where to target those outreach efforts.
• He created a program with other local organizations to ensure that fire prevention tips and tactics were shared with all members of the community.

• Create youth programs that immerse children in the outdoors and teach them the importance of wildfire prevention along with the tactics to handle fire in a smart, safe way.
• Work with federal, state, and local organizations to better address wildfire prevention and improve how they communicate with the public on this issue.

• Jimmye produced original artwork depicting animals and key wildlife species in habitats traditionally threated by human-caused wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.
• He produced animal trading cards with a fire revention tip on each card, along with a fun fact about the corresponding animal.
• To further support the wildfire prevention and animal habitat protection effort, Jimmye expanded his initial project so that a suite of products and themes were available for interagency and inter-state application. These are now hosted on a website that distributes them to field units across the Pacific Northwest

• In the past two years, Jimmye has made 75 visits and presentations at elementary schools throughout Northeast Oregon and Southwest Washington, teaching thousands of children on the importance of wildfire prevention.
• In an effort to spread his wildfire prevention message further, Jimmye has fostered strong positive relationships with municipal, state and federal partners in the field of wildfire prevention and forest conservation.

• Be creative and think of how to implement new youth-targeted strategies to help spread wildfire prevention messages.
• Create new promotional materials in efficient and inventive ways that people can easily use.

• Created one of the most popular exhibits at Camp Smokey during the state fair with the message “Safe Fire, Unsafe Fire,” which describes safe use of fire by Native Americans.
• Led a prevention team on the Pine Ridge Reservation that included presentations on the dangers of wildfires in the community, called “Decisions” and “ASSETS (Adult supervision, Small, Serves a purpose, Enhances the environment, Tribal benefit for the community, Safe fire use)” outlining Native American traditional use and respect of fire.
• Created the slogans, “Look up for powerlines and tree canopies. Look down, fireworks should be lit on dirt or gravel. Look around, keep away from people, vehicles, buildings, and propane tanks,” in order to teach members safe practices for firework use, a large part of one tribe’s livelihood. The children were taught this information by song and pow-wow dance at the Boys and Girls Club.
• Educated radio listeners about the risks of unwanted human-caused fires with a local child drumming the Smokey Bear song before and after the announcement.

• Helped found the California Wildlife Coordination Group Interagency Fire Prevention Committee and put together the California State Interagency Fire Prevention Conference and Interagency Training.
• Reduced wildfires in one of her tribes from 100+ per year to less than 31 per year.
• Worked with approximately 106 Indian reservations in California to reduce human-caused ignitions over the past 10 years.
• Engaged more than 11,000 children and parents each year in the Camp Smokey experience, an exhibit that teaches different fire prevention and safety lessons at multiple stations.

• Applies her passion for prevention and bilingual skills to readily connect with audiences, including Native American, Hispanic, Asian and others.
• Routinely organizes and funds unique educational fire events, programs and trainings that engage new prevention partners.

• Partnered with volunteer fire departments, the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association, Fire Corps Volunteer groups, and others.
• Developed relationships with 15 libraries to deliver Smokey Bear bookmarks and cutouts and enlisted the libraries to place displays, the cutouts, and provide website information during wildfire seasons.
• Worked with Home Depot to cover invitations for agency personnel to come to Kids Fire Prevention Workshops that 1,500 people attended.

• Provided signs to be placed at four fire stations that reach thousands of Georgia residents.
• Used an inflatable Smokey Bear at the Georgia Mountain Fair, reaching 5,000–6,000 people at their “Smokey Bear’s Ranger Station.”
• Delivered “Living with Fire” inserts to several county newspapers, with a circulation of 7,000–7,500.
• Worked with several local radio and cable stations to run Smokey Bear PSAs.
• Made the effort to preserve Harry Rossoll’s historic hat, that related to the early days of wildfire prevention and the Smokey Bear ad campaign, in the Smithsonian.

• Secured funding for four years to cover the costs of a wildfire prevention PSA in a movie theater that sells 250,000 tickets annually from six county areas. The movie theater is located in a county that is over 65% national forest land and has an extremely high wildland urban interface (WUI).
• Utilized a digital billboard to a traffic count of 10,000 vehicles over a 6-month period.

• New level of wildfire awareness in Puerto Rico and the United States.
• Reaches people of all ages in different countries.

• Created public persona and performs at community events.
• Specifically targets Spanish-speaking audiences.
• Released an album and provided easily downloadable songs.
• Cohosted a joint press conference with local government department.

• For almost a decade, the Partners have donated 1,500–2,000 hours annually, presenting their message to both the general public and wildfire-prevention professionals in nine states.
• Their impact is evidenced by their innovative partnership with a regional food warehouse. During the two-year partnership, 7.5 million plastic bags were printed with a fire-safety message, at no cost.

• New outreach: Reaching farmers, ranchers and students with specifically tailored wildfire prevention information.
• Volunteer talent: Volunteers are respected members of their communities and become local champions of fire prevention.
• Corporate partnerships: Forging fruitful alliance with a regional food warehouse, producing 7.5 million plastic bags with fire-safety messages at no cost.

• Appealing, educational infographics share information quickly and understandably.
• Social media presence keep people involved and the issues on their minds.

• Presentations at local schools
• Appearances on local news stations, radio, and newspapers
• Use of interpreters to reach target audiences

• Decreased roadside fires from 17 to one in just one year
• Reached over 8,300 students at 50 schools a year

• Jon developed 70 trackable geocoins symbolizing Smokey’s 70th birthday and his wildfire prevention message.
• Geocachers could find the coins, travel with them, spread Smokey’s message, educate others, and then drop it off in a new location for the next geocacher to find.
• While the geocacher carried the coins with them, the coins served as a reminder to be safe with fire.

• Jon’s geocaching program reached a new audience of people who were already out in nature and increased awareness on how they could help prevent wildfires.
• Since releasing the trackable geocoins, they have traveled to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 17 different countries, and 5 continents, for a total of 329,000 miles-enough to circle the Earth 13.2 times.
• Smokey’s wildfire prevention message was spread to other geocachers at various “Meet and Greet” geocaching events around the United States.

• Bob attended Town Council meetings to share fire prevention messaging and to gather support for his goal of zero human caused wildfires in Tusayan.
• He built partnerships with the local fire department to help find, document, and extinguish abandoned campfires on National Forest land.
• Bob developed a network of local residents and permit holders committed to wildfire prevention and enlisted them to help report and extinguish abandoned campfires.
• He spent time at the local schools near the Grand Canyon National Park to share the message with K-12 students.
• Bob and his partners focused on educating and training campers to understand that it is illegal to leave campfires unattended and is a direct cause of many wildfires.
• He utilized traditional wildfire prevention techniques, such as thinning and prescribed burns, to supplement his new tactics with the surrounding community.

• Be research-based and investigate key causes of wildfires that are specific to your area.
• Work with members of your community to implement your wildfire prevention strategies

• The forestry center distributed wildfire prevention and mitigation-related magnets with Smokey Bear included in the design during Fort Meyers Miracles games during record-setting seasons for attendance.
• They built a float of Smokey’s cabin to be used in the Junior and Grande Parade in Southwest Florida to teach children the importance of wildfire prevention and to remind their parents how to properly handle fire.

• Between 2002 and 2015, there has been a significant reduction in wildfires in the district during every record-setting season for attendance with the Fort Myers Miracle.
• The number of fire prevention program requests has increased by 10% in one year, which correlates with a time where there was significant public exposure to wildfire prevention messaging.

• Work with local organizations to develop mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships to spread wildfire prevention messaging.
• Work to educate younger children on the importance of wildfire prevention so they can someday help prevent wildfires themselves; those educational opportunities can also serve as a reminder to parents.

• The district took advantage of the opening weekend of the Disney Movie “Planes: Fire & Rescue” to promote wildfire prevention messaging in local movie theaters.
• They developed a working relationship with the local Home Depot and Cabela’s to participate and enhance their Kids Fire Prevention Workshops while offering opportunities for adults to learn about resource management and how mismanagement can lead to an increase of human caused wildfires.
• As a part of their wildfire prevention campaign, the district installed a large fire danger rating sign at the entrance to their office as well as many roadside signs, allowing for thousands of Georgia residents to see it each day.

• During the past two years, over 12,500 people have participated in wildfire prevention activities organized through the Conasauga Ranger District and its partners.
• While the district has experienced a longer than average dry period, the actual number of human caused wildfires on all lands (national, state, and local) located in the district decreased.

• The district worked with local organizations and businesses to extend their outreach efforts regarding wildfire prevention efforts.
• They leveraged large-scale events to reach wide, diverse audiences.
• Many of the district employees worked outside the scope of their jobs and collaborated in wildfire prevention efforts as a team.

• Reviewed fire loss data along with fire reports to determine which communities are at higher risk from human-caused fires in north central Texas.
• Served as the planner for several high profile events, such as the joint Texas Forest Service (TFS) and US Forest Service Cooperative Prevention program centered around the 24th Annual Lions Club Balloon Festival.
• Delivered the first-ever appearance of a Smokey Bear hot air balloon and hosted a prevention booth in Texas that was announced in a statewide news release.
• Was responsible for planning a Planes 2 event in Wylie & Greenville in North Texas in which he was able to secure the Wylie and Greenville (TX) Fire Departments for assistance with the help of his contacts in North Texas. Both fire departments provided a structural and wildland engine and wildland fire crews all day to support the TFS Display and the Smokey Bear appearances at a Planes 2 event. Steve got Planes 2 coloring pages donated by a local vendor to give to the children who stopped by the Smokey Bear display.
• Worked diligently in his community to have a City Proclamation for Smokey Bear’s birthday and hosted a birthday party at the Princeton City Hall in August 2014. He worked with Collin County and Tarrant County Court of Commissions to proclaim August 9th as Smokey Bear Day.
• Assisted TFS with numerous birthday parties for Smokey Bear and appearances at fire department open houses. These included Wylie Fire Department, Lucas Fire Department, Cedar Hill Fire Department, Coppell Fire Department and the Benbrook Fire Department. In total, these open house programs reach 1,320 citizens of all ages.

• Comparing wildfire ignition starts within the six at-risk communities in north central Texas during 2007-2010 to 2011-2014 when the program was in place, human-caused wildfire causes decreased by 12 percent (from 97 percent to 85 percent).
• Led the contracting, and handled the planning and details for 39 Smokey Bear prevention programs which have impacted over 23,000 people, including both children and adults.
• Worked with Collin County and Tarrant County Court of Commissions to proclaim August 9th as Smokey Bear Day and created media interest from two major networks. His efforts provided an opportunity to celebrate Smokey’s 70th birthday and emphasized to television viewers that the number one cause of wildfires in Tarrant County is human carelessness.

• Brought a personal side to Smokey Bear which helped audiences understand that Smokey was an actual bear. This understanding provided younger audiences with a connection to the negative outcomes of human-caused wildfires on wildlife, homes, and people.
• Used “Clowning” as a method to attract new audiences, where he also could work as “Deffi” the wildland fire clown. Deffi was present at the Texas A&M Forest Service Smokey Bear Birthday Bash in College Station and had a long line of children at his tent.

• Outdoor burning setback requirement “credit cards,” printed on plastic cards to be more resilient in the pockets and wallets of those conducting burns outdoors. Her original credit card graphic is now used on the statewide brochure, “Know the Law Before You Strike the Match.”
• Wildfire prevention and mitigation-related pop-up banner designs, including “Know the Law,” displaying the same burning setbacks as the “Outdoor Burning Setback Credit Card.”
• Arson prevention cards originally created to address an increase in the occurrence of arson-caused wildfires in hunting areas. She distributed them in areas where hunters frequent, and they are still being used throughout Florida.

• Created the slogan, “Support your wildland firefighter…Prevent Wildfires,” that helped audiences take ownership of the safety and protection of their local firefighters. This slogan and design was printed on can coolers and given out at the Florida State Fair in Tampa.
• Created eye-catching social media graphics such as “New Year’s Resolutions for the Forest Lover in You.”
• Was responsible for the coordination and direction of the Florida Forest Service’s statewide fire prevention program.
• Developed new educational materials and a biannual course that helped teach wildland firefighters to research and create wildfire prevention communication plans for their area’s needs that go beyond children’s programs and Smokey Bear, as well as the basics of the Fire Prevention Triangle.
• For every dollar spent on fire prevention in Florida, $35 in suppression costs are saved.

• Received a microgrant from the Pacific Southwest Region’s fire prevention program to the Shasta-Trinity National Forest to create the campaign.
• Partnered with USDA Forest Service Shasta-Trinity National Forest Service, California Department of Transportation, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and many more.
• Coordinated the statewide campaign in 2013 through the California Wildfire Coordinate Group Prevention Team.
• Met with Fire Safe councils, businesses and agency personnel to teach them how to adapt and use “One Less Spark” in their local area.
• Partnered with other organizations, such as civic groups and utility companies, to share the message during fire season.

• Created interpretive signs and chain guards made of discarded fire hoses that were embossed with “One Less Spark.”
• Reached forest visitors in campgrounds, rest areas, OHV staging areas, boat ramps, local sporting goods stores and vehicle-related businesses.
• Gave suggested templates of “One Less Spark” news releases and digital versions of all campaign graphics, such as logos, brochures and posters, to all Prevention and Public Affairs staffs in the 18 national forests in the Pacific Southwest region.
• Created 10 short “One Less Spark” PSAs with comedienne Betty White.
• Utilized their Twitter accounts to distribute the links to their followers and aggregated “One Less Spark” messages with the hashtag #OneLessSpark.
• Displayed “One Less Spark” messages on overhead freeway signs during times of high fire danger.

• The campaign grew exponentially in its second year into a larger, more far-reaching program.
• Spread the wildfire prevention message to over 6,900 Twitter users.

• The simple message included specific actions the public could take to prevent different types of vehicle-related fires.
• Adaptable campaign that was suitable for implementation on forests with different ratios of human-caused fires.

• Over 41,000 volunteer days logged and almost 15 million people reached since the WHIP program started.
• Average acres burned per year in Pennsylvania has reduced from 10,000 to 6,500.

• Developed and distributed a manual for new wardens to learn and educate others about wildfires.
• Used an electronic database to survey the reach of their work.
• Developed relationships with government agencies.
• Aired public service announcements via radio.
• Maintained billboards and wildfire danger rating signs.

• Involvement: The WHIP manual allows for anyone with interest to get involved and help the effort against preventable wildfires. The entire WHIP program is run by volunteers.
• Partnerships: Uses relationships with state agencies, school districts and fire departments to have a presence at as many events as possible.
• Technology: Uses a database to track all completed events, and then targets areas that require more prevention work.

• K-9 team took part in 49 educational programs, reaching more than 2,900 students in Hamilton Township alone.
• “Tracks” has participated in over 750 programs across the state, making over 10,000 wildfire prevention contacts.
• Has led to training other police canine departments to track wildfires.

• Implemented a wildfire prevention and investigation program with the use of tracking dogs.
• Targeted areas with highest numbers of human-caused wildfires.

• Innovation: “Tracks” was the first program to use dogs to track the origins of wildfires.
• Dedication: Personally cared for and trained the program’s first bloodhound.

• Efforts have resulted in reduced costs, effective prevention and education team involvement in affected communities, and increased professional interaction with local fire departments.
• Reached hundreds of home and property owners with information, materials and assessments.
• Distributed materials to every fire department within a multistate, four-county area.
• Contacted every elementary school within a seven-county multistate area.

• Created location-specific wildfire prevention materials based on high-risk local areas.
• Worked closely with local fire departments, many of which were volunteer-based.
• Reached out to a neighboring Forest Service division and partnered with them.

• Leadership: Recognized the potential for danger and spearheaded preventative efforts, working as a catalyst to create Fire Prevention and Education Teams, and to provide one message from multiple agencies.
• Partnerships: Took it upon himself to bring the Georgia and Florida forest services together to work against dangers that posed threats to both of their states. Also actively involved every local volunteer fire department.

• Reduced preventable wildfires in their district.
• Delivered 77 school programs, reaching more than 13,000 elementary school children.
• Delivered 237 community-based programs, reaching over 105,000 people of all ages.

• Encouraged children to get involved through fun, participatory events.
• Leveraged large-scale events to reach wide, diverse audiences.
• Distributed proactive fire prevention materials to children.

• Creativity: Developed various fun activities to involve their audiences in fresh, exciting ways.
• Reach: Used relationships with local school districts and volunteer fire departments to organize their own local events, and leveraged large-scale events to expand their audience.

• Educated over 20,000 children.
• Established relationships with schools and media in her area.

• Gave classrooms a “Smokey bag” filled with educational activities that the class can take part in without the presence of a wildfire expert.
• Worked with Public Affairs to coordinate local media coverage of special events and school visits.

• Reaches hundreds of students per year.
• Interacts with a variety of different groups, organizations and agencies.

• Brings Smokey to an array of events, including fire department open houses, county fairs, festivals, carnivals, minor league baseball games, and nursing homes/assisted living facilities, where Smokey brings the patrons fond memories and often has a chance to educate their visitors.
• Made technological advancements to the Smokey suit.

• Annual Fire Fest brings in 400–500 attendees every year, and has spread to two different counties.
• Outreach has doubled the size of ranger wildfire prevention programming.

• Fostering competition: Developed point system to rate wildfire prevention programs of rangers, allowing for friendly competition between teams to produce best programming.
• Facilitating outreach: Produced a ranger toolkit which included county information, such as the dates and times of local public events.
• Forging relationships: Concluded that rangers were enthusiastic to assist wildfire prevention programming, but were unsure how, then figured out how to help them.