1919, along the Rio Bonito north of Lincoln, and the Mesa and Ruidoso Ranger Districts further south. The Mesa and Ruidoso districts were combined in October 1929 into the White Mountain Ranger District, a designation that lasted until 1952 when both areas resumed their original names. All of these areas were combined in 1960 and given their current designation, the Smokey Bear Ranger District. 423,416 acres in size, and ranging in elevation from 5,400 to 11,580 feet in the Capitan Mountains, the Smoky Bear district embraces a number of different environments, and includes desert shrubs, forests of pinyon pine, juniper, and spruce, and high-elevation grasslands above the treeline. The area also includes the Forest's two designated Wilderness Areas and one of the two ski areas, Ski Apache near Ruidoso. The district can be reached via U.S. 70, which traverses much of the southern part of the district and passes through the village of Ruidoso. Another highway, U.S. 380, crosses a thin stretch of public lands east of Carrizozo and crosses through Capitan and Lincoln. Smokey Bear One of the most enduring of stories to come out of the long history of the forest is the tale of the real-life Smokey Bear, a bear cub rescued from the devastated forest after the Capitan Gap fire of 1950. Rescued from a burnt tree by either a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish ranger or a group of soldiers from nearby Fort Bliss seconded to fight the blaze, the cub was flown to Santa Fe by New Mexico Ranger Ray Bell for treatment of burns and other injuries. The bear was eventually named Smokey Bear, after the Forest Service's symbol of fire safety on public lands, which had been created in 1944 by artist Harry Rossol. Now the living symbol of fire awareness and prevention, Smokey Bear was flown to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. The subject of hundreds of thousands of visitors and letters, the bear lived at the zoo until his death in 1976. Eulogized by the Washington Post as a transplanted New Mexico native with many years of government service, Smokey Bear was returned to his native land and buried near Capitan in November 1976. Lincoln County War Lincoln County, in which much of the district is located, was the site of the 1878-79 Lincoln County War, a complex and bloody struggle between ranchers, bankers, politicians, and hired