Where is Smokey the Bear? My wife and I just returned from a delightful two weeks in the western mountains and valleys searching unsuccessfully for him.

We started in Salt Lake City and worked our way north through southern Idaho to the major parks in western Wyoming and just far enough into Montana to say that we were there.

Smokey has apparently been retired. I don't think I'm that old but if a few of you don't recognize Smokey, he was the poster bear wearing a ranger hat and holding a shovel with the constant message "Only you can prevent forest fires."

His forced retirement came after the major fires in Yellowstone Park in 1988. That fire, which burned about half the park, caused a major reevaluation of fire policy at the federal parks and on other federal land. Interestingly, the federal government owns a very high percentage of the land in many western states.

After the 1988 fires it was suggested, to the horror of many, that maybe fires were a part of the natural cycle of life. That assumption is gradually being accepted. Today fires in the wild are only fought when buildings are threatened.

Back to the aftermath of the 1988 fire. In the first years, the number of plant species seen increased from something like four to 24. Those areas immediately became favored grazing areas for the animals and remained that way for five years.

After 15 years it is obvious that the dominant pine forests will regenerate. The dominant pine is one called lodge pole pine. The name is appropriate, since is looks like a very long telephone pole with a small Christmas tree perched on top.

That structure, together with tough bark, permits easy survival during a moderate ground fire. The tree also produces two kinks of pinecones. One opens immediately but the other will not open until it has been heated to 113 degrees. In other words, they wait for the next fire. They can wait twenty years if necessary.

What does this change in policy suggest to us? It makes me realize that we must work with nature because we will never control it. In the garden we do that by selecting proper plants, siting them properly, giving them the necessary space to flourish and giving them enough neglect to let them grow naturally.

Man wants to control nature, but he can't and never will. I missed our last living proof of that but am still picking up the pieces. Most likely, neither Smoky nor Isabel will be missed.