SANTA FE — The Smokey Bear Fire Prevention license plate is now available for New Mexico vehicles.
The plate has been made available after the passage of House Bill 251 in the Legislature earlier this year, which was signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The Smokey Bear Fire Prevention plate is a special vehicle registration plate that raises money for fire prevention efforts. It is not available for motorcycles or other vehicle types that have designated plates, such as recreational vehicles.
The plate will cost $50 on the initial purchase and $40 each year for registration renewals.
Revenue from initial purchases is distributed as follows: $12 to the Motor Vehicle Division; $33 to the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department for fire prevention efforts; $5 to the U.S. Forest Service as a royalty.
Revenue from renewal fees is distributed as follows: $36 to EMNRD and $4 to the US Forest Service as a royalty.
The plates can be ordered for new vehicle registrations or as a replacement plate online at mvdonline.com or in MVD offices. Plates will be mailed directly to the customer, so customers are asked to make sure they have an email address on file with MVD for U.S. Postal Service tracking information purposes.
The Smokey Bear plate comes out just in time for Smokey’s 80th anniversary as the icon for the Forest Service’s fire prevention efforts on Aug. 9.
Smokey has a special significance for New Mexico. Although the forest fire prevention icon dates to 1944, a real-life Smokey Bear captured the nation’s attention six years later.
As crews worked a forest fire in the Capitan mountains in the Spring of 1950, they spotted an apparently orphaned bear cub that had taken refuge in a charred tree. A fire crew rescued the badly burned cub, which was taken to Santa Fe for treatment.
After recovering, the bear took up residence at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., where he became a beloved national symbol of Smokey Bear.
Smokey died in 1976 and is buried at Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico.
For more information about the Smokey Bear anniversary celebrations, visit the U.S. Forest Service website.
