Smokey Bear made his first appearance on a wildfire prevention poster in 1944. Eighty years later, Smokey stands as one of the most recognizable fictional characters in the U.S. “He's an icon.

Smokey Bear paintings and activities are planned at Plum Creek Nature Center in Beecher and Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville.

Nineteen paintings depicting Smokey Bear, the popular symbol of the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire prevention campaign, will ...