Show Men Cause Most Forest Fires By JOHN JOHANSEN It was a crew checking for spot fires that found him He was clinging to a smoldering stump of a burned tree a frightened half-dead half brown bear It seemed a miracle that he could have survived that terrible terrible terrible ter ter- forest fire yet he had AFTER THE young cub was taken to the fire fighters' fighters camp he was given medical attention attention attention at at- I and food He had been burned his fur was col ash ored so they n named a m e d him Smokey Thus began Smokey the Bears life in civilization Now he has become a legend and a reminder to be careful You can see his notices in parks and for for- ests Yet with all the signs and warnings around people still arent aren't careful Nine out of ten forest or brush fires are caused by man Thousands of acres of timber are lost each year BUT THAT'S not all Im I'm sure animals do not leave candy wrappers cans bottles and other other other oth oth- er trash laying in our forests meadows or along the highways and roads That too is mans man's fault It is getting to the point where it is becoming a hideous mess Trash and garbage dumped and dropped papers and cans left or thrown and cigarette cigarette cigarette cig cig- arette butts tossed aside care care- lessly There are a number of ways to confront this problem First do dp away with man Second prohibit prohibit prohibit pro pro- hibit possession of any cans bottles matches etc and third let man take the responsibility to be careful with fires and discard trash in the proper re re- I think YOU can see that the third choice is best but it is is up to YOU to achieve this goal |