Free Republic

A climate change scientist has claimed the world's leading academic journals reject papers which don't 'support certain narratives' about the issue and instead favor 'distorted' research which hypes up dangers rather than solutions. Brown gave the example of a paper he recently authored titled 'Climate warming increases extreme daily wildfire growth risk in California'. Brown said the paper, published in Nature last week, 'focuses exclusively on how climate change has affected extreme wildfire behavior' and ignored other key factors. Brown laid out his claims in an article titled 'I Left Out the Full Truth to Get My Climate Change Paper...

Smokey Bear turns 78 and you can join in on a celebration happening Tuesday. From 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, a virtual birthday party will be held for Smokey on a live stream. The party will be hosted by PBS host Darley Newman and representatives from the U.S. Forest Service. Smokey was born Aug. 9, 1944, as a campaign to prevent forest fires but the real Smokey came to be six years later. In the spring of 1950, a young bear cub was found alive after being caught and badly burned while taking shelter up in a tree in a...

An El Paso, Texas, man pleaded guilty Friday to starting the Last Chance Fire that ripped through a section of the Lincoln National Forest and threated the community of Queen. Rodrigo Ulloa Esquivel, 29, admitted that on April 24 he set toilet paper on fire near a campsite in Last Chance Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains. A stiff wind spread sparks starting a fire that quickly grew beyond attempts fo Ulloa and a his companions attempts to contain it... Smokey Bear Says"Don't squeeze my Charmin or set it on fire""Wild bears don't use toilet paper - the fines are too...

Today the nation celebrates the 65th birthday of one of our most beloved protectors: Smokey Bear, the guardian of our forests. Dressed in a ranger's hat, belted blue jeans, and carrying a shovel, he has been America’s forest fire prevention symbol, since his debut in 1944. Today, he is one of the most famous advertising symbols in the world and is protected by Federal Law. He has his own private zip code, his own legal council, and his own private committee to insure that his name is used properly. Smokey Bear is much more than a make-believe paper image; he...

The state government budget cuts are getting serious now: Smokey Bear has been furloughed."When you get Smokey requests, you should explain that staffing and budget issues have forced us to narrow our focus, concentrating on more essential services," S.C. Forestry Commission spokesman Ken Cabe wrote recently in a reminder to employees."Mention that we hope to resume our Smokey efforts when (and if) the budget situation improves."The agency has several Smokey costumes that state employees have used during appearances at school functions or festivals.The U.S. Forest Service also has Smokey Bear costumes, though the one used in the Midlands is being...

Americans are famous for ignoring good advice, such as don’t get involved in a ground war in Asia, don’t cheat on your accounting and, especially, don’t tune your guitar when you’ve been drinking. All sound thinking, and all ignored at our peril at one time or another. Then there is advice that sounded good at the time, but turns out to have been misguided—as in “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Who would have thought Smokey Bear would have to turn in his broad-brimmed ranger hat for the villain’s mantle? For the last 150 years in the American West, the...