Artist Rudolph Wendelin helped conceive and draw the U.S. Forest Service mascot and spokesman "Smokey The Bear" for 40 years. Mr. Wendelin took "Smokey" from bear cub to animated protector of U.S. forests and paved the way for a beautiful set of posters.

• Rudolph Wendelin Biography

Smokey's Educational Poster Collection: This is my personal collection of Smokey posters. I offer these images only for reference and encourage you to contact your local forest ranger or state forester for reprints. Your state forestry department is one poster source but eBay often has some of the series for sale. These posters have been printed in both 8x10 and 20x30 inch sizes.

• Smokey Bear's Educational Poster Collection, A Collector's Set of 15 Prints on Nature
• State Forestry Agencies

Smokey Bear Poster, US Forest Service

Firewood performance can differ from one tree species to the next. The type of tree you use for burning can vary widely in heat content, burning characteristics, and overall quality. I have created a table that provides several important burning characteristics for most species used in North America.

A common tree's heating potential can be determined by looking at its wood density and the amount of energy it can produce, usually measured in British Thermal Units or BTUs. I list these facts as well as the wood's ability to retain coals overnight.

• Approximate Conversions of the Most Common Units of Wood Measure

Burning Stovewood - University of Tennessee/EPA/Woodheat.org

Archaeopteris, an extinct tree that made up most of the forests across the earth in the late Devonian period, is now considered by scientists to be the first modern tree. According to a report in the journal Nature, earth's first modern tree and forests emerged around 370 million years ago. Ancient plants made it out of water 130 million years earlier but none were considered "true" trees.

These "true" trees developed certain characteristics that took them far beyond all other common plants in the Devonian. These trees developed rings which supported increased height and weight. The new trees developed bark that protected water and nutrient conducting cells and a supportive collar of extra wood that surround the bases of each branch.

Archaeopteris

Archaeopteris Illustration by UC Berkley - Museum of Paleontology

Our world forests have never been looked upon with such scrutiny, some would say a scrutiny we can ill afford. We need to cut - we need to preserve; we need to plant - we've planted too much; we should burn - we should never burn; we have a human obligation - we have an ecosystem obligation.

Who is right? Each view is staunchly defended. Each has radically differing agendas. In any event, they all come about as a result of a very real concern for the future of our forests and the resulting effect on the earth.

Let me try to give you a brief introduction to these differing beliefs. I have come to think of these views as the pantheistic, radical environmental, channeled environmental, and traditional environmental points of view.

• The Pantheist
• The Radical Environmentalist
• The Channeled Environmentalist
• The Traditional Environmentalist

Take this quiz to see where you fit as a forest environmentalist: Environmental Forestry Profile Quiz