BUY THE NEW SMOKEY BEAR LICENSE PLATE AND A TREE WILL BE PLANTED IN HONOR OF THE PURCHASE!

BUY THE NEW SMOKEY BEAR LICENSE PLATE AND A TREE WILL BE PLANTED IN HONOR OF THE PURCHASE!

COLUMBUS, OH – A tree will grow in Harrison County for every Smokey Bear license plate sold in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Forestry. The Smokey Bear specialty plate is now on sale.

“In honor of Ohio’s role as the first state to offer a license plate specifically aimed at wildfire prevention and education, a special ‘Smokey’s Grove’ has been set aside at Harrison State Forest in eastern Ohio,” said John Dorka, chief of the Division of Forestry. “This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to those who purchase the Smokey Bear license plate supporting Ohio’s forests.”

The grove, once strip-mined for coal, is currently a 53-acre grassland. As part of the Smokey Bear license plate program, fifth-grade students from Harrison County schools plant red oak seedlings provided by the Marietta State Tree Nursery.

Smokey Bear has been the national symbol for wildfire prevention since 1944. Each Smokey plate sold in Ohio costs $25 above the price of a non-specialty plate, with $15 of that amount going to the ODNR Division of Forestry for wildfire prevention and education programs in Ohio.

Smokey Bear specialty plates can be purchased through local deputy registrar offices, on the Internet at OPLATES.COM, or by calling toll free 1-888-PLATES3 (752-8373).