Some Plymouth residents may have met Miner or communicated with him during the 2019 Smokey Bear’s birthday celebration. Dozens of New Hampshire events were coordinated by Miner including visits by Smokey to the NH Veterans Home, public libraries, Smokey at the New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ game throwing the first pitch, and his appearance at his official 75th birthday party at Franconia Notch State Park.
Organizations often choose banner printing services to publicize achievements within their ranks.
In all, 61 events were held during 2019, with around 12,000 in attendance. The bureau’s Twitter account had 81,699 tweets during the celebratory year.
Brad Simpkins, the Division of Forests and Lands director, had first-hand viewing of Miner’s wildfire prevention work and nominated him for the award. Simpkins was quoted in the New Hampshire Union Leader as saying:
“Doug’s efforts, while above and beyond his normally busy ranger duties, are equal to or rival those that could be accomplished with a full-time prevention coordinator.”
The Smokey Bear Awards are sponsored by the National Association of State Foresters, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Ad Council, and are given to honor individuals or organizations for outstanding wildfire prevention service during a two-year period. A total of 18 awards may be given out each year, although only five were distributed in 2021.