This lovely little cartoon of Smokey Bear and the National Parks Service emblem was created to bring the seriousness defunding of the National Parks to light. When the service was defunded by the President, many programs, such as anything to do with wildfire safety, were cut. With national parks being one of the largest grouping of land that is also the most vulnerable to wildfires, the importance of their wildfire safety programs outweighs the need of one in other places. This illustration was created to bring the message to the public: only we can prevent wildfires now that there is no money or program for the National Parks to do it themselves.

While this artifact does argue that it is our duty to prevent wildfires now that the National Parks Service has been defunded, in all reality it has always been our duty to do so. Either way, it is now known that there is not any big organization that can handle it all for us. I believe that there is an underlying message if one chooses to see it, and that message is that the health and safety of our environment should not and cannot be left up to big companies and organizations. The National Parks Service is a very reputable organization with good intentions, yet even with their good morals, they were stripped of their funding. So really, who can we trust to take care of our planet besides ourselves? If each person holds this mindset in any aspect of helping our world, the outcome will be much greater than anything an organization could do.

Smokey Bear is the face of national wildfire prevention and the United States Forest Service. One of the reasons this artifact stood out to me is because of their use of the national icon. Smokey is known for his useful fire safety information, a family friendly approach to wildfire safety, and a welcoming and unbiased face. Yet here he is, taking a somewhat political stance and outwardly supporting an organization that didn’t create him. This stance comes with a message, saying that he cannot keep our forest safe alone anymore. I am very much aware that Smokey Bear is a character (he was real once, though!), but his message still rings true.

I chose this artifact as my addition in my essay because of the proof it brings to the matter of wildfire safety in California. People think that California is being lazy when it comes to doing anything about their wildfire epidemic, when in reality, they are trying their best with the lack of resources they have. If the National Parks Service is being defunded, there is no way CalFire has enough resources to cover what the National Parks did for them and continue to deal with their own deficits. The lack of wildfire safety knowledge and the safety precautions themselves in California is solely because of the lack of funding, not because of lack of effort.