Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Smokey Gets Own Road for Birthday

This is one gift where the thought really counts.

The U.S. Forest Service, hoping to cause passing motorists to stop and think, gave its most famous fire prevention symbol a rather obscure birthday present Friday--a little known, but widely used road.

In a ceremony marking his 50th birthday, officials formally opened Smokey Bear Road on the Golden State Freeway near Pyramid Lake.

“The whole idea is to try to get the fire prevention message to the public,” said John Damann, a Forest Service fire prevention officer who spent two years getting the road’s name changed from Hungry Valley Road. “We want people to drive by and think, ‘Oh, Smokey!’ ”

The road, one-tenth of a mile long and north of the Santa Clarita Valley, provides access to Pyramid Lake, a popular spot for boaters and other water recreation activities. Caltrans officials estimate that up to 60,000 motorists pass the road on peak traveling days.

Forest Service officials said the average life of a brown bear is about 15 years, but Smokey’s ripe old age didn’t seem to bother him Friday as he unwrapped his present--one of eight freeway signs bearing his name.

The furry costumed critter, clad in size 60 Levi’s and his trademark forest ranger hat, rode up in a Caltrans cherry-picker truck and tore the sheet plastic from the southbound off-ramp sign as about 50 officials from Caltrans, the Forest Service and other agencies cheered below.

Loud honks were sounded by passing truckers, many of whom will doubtless conclude that the road, which passes under the freeway, is a favored spot by law enforcement types.

But California Highway Patrol Officer Fred Oakes said the spot has never been popular with officers because it doesn’t offer a good view of freeway traffic.

“(We’ll be there) no more, no less than before,” he said.

The unveiling was followed by a birthday party at the Vista Del Lago Visitors’ Center at Pyramid Lake north of the Santa Clarita Valley, where plenty of visitors--young and old--leaped at the unexpected chance to have their pictures taken with Smokey.

Several parents said the bear is one of their children’s favorite--and most positive--role models.

“I would say he’s about three-quarters of the way up there, on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Power Rangers,” said Ron Norton, an Oceanside resident who posed with Smokey so he could take the snapshot home to his 4-year-old grandson, Joey.

Students from nearby elementary schools who submitted fire prevention posters for a contest met the bear, and later shared the bear’s birthday cake.

A real bear cub became Smokey Bear in 1946 when he was discovered clinging to a singed tree after a 17,000-acre wildfire in New Mexico.

Damann said he fought to get the name of the road changed as a way to provide some local recognition of Smokey’s symbolic achievements in time for his 50th anniversary.