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The Landmark Project

There are some characters you recognize before you even have time to think about why.

Smokey Bear is one of them. Woodsy Owl is another.

For generations of Americans, these two were part of childhood. Smokey Bear told us that protecting the forest was partly our responsibility. Woodsy Owl told us to “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute.” They were simple messages delivered by friendly characters, but they worked. Kids remembered them. Adults remembered them. Decades later, we still remember them.

That’s one of the reasons we enjoyed the products we tried from The Landmark Project so much. This company makes really beautiful outdoor-inspired goods, but some of our favorites are the pieces that bring Smokey and Woodsy back into everyday life.

And frankly, we think we still need them.

Smokey Bear has been teaching Americans about wildfire prevention since 1944, making his campaign the longest-running public service advertising campaign in the country. His wording has changed slightly over the years—from preventing forest fires to preventing wildfires—but the underlying idea has never changed: what an individual person does in the woods matters.

That seems especially important now. We live in a place surrounded by forests, mountains and public lands. We have seen firsthand how precious these landscapes are and how quickly things can change. Teaching another generation to take personal responsibility for protecting them doesn't feel old-fashioned at all. It feels necessary.

The Smokey’s Reminder 5-Panel Hat might be our favorite example of how The Landmark Project handles that history. It’s a walnut-colored, heritage-style hat with Smokey’s familiar wildfire-prevention message worked into the design. It doesn't feel like a novelty item. It feels like something you would actually wear hiking, camping, working outside or just running around town. And that’s what makes the whole concept work: Smokey isn't trapped on an old classroom poster. The message gets to come outside with you.

The Smokey Logo Women’s Tank does the same thing in a completely different way. This one has a relaxed, slightly cropped shape and a much more modern feel, while still using that instantly recognizable Smokey imagery. We liked that combination a lot. It doesn't feel like wearing a costume from your childhood. It feels current. It just happens to carry a message that has been important for more than 80 years.

And then there's Woodsy Owl.

I think Woodsy deserves more attention than he gets.

Woodsy was introduced by the U.S. Forest Service in 1971, and his original message—“Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute”—was ridiculously simple. That was also its genius. He taught children that caring for the environment wasn't some abstract thing somebody else was responsible for. You don't throw garbage on the ground. You take care of the places around you. You leave things better than you found them.

Those seem like very basic ideas, but basic ideas are often the ones most worth teaching.

The Woodsy Owl and Friends Youth Ringer Tee is probably the sweetest thing in the group. It has that wonderful vintage ringer-shirt look, and The Landmark Project very intentionally made this one for kids. We love that. There is something genuinely lovely about a character many parents and grandparents remember from their own childhood now showing up on a shirt for another generation.

And this is exactly where characters like Woodsy still have value. Kids don't need a lecture on environmental stewardship every time they go outside. Sometimes they just need a funny owl they remember.

The Give a Hoot Youth Hat may make that point even better. It's a mint-colored cotton hat sized for kids, with Woodsy and that famous message right there on it. It is cute enough that a kid will actually want to wear it, while quietly reinforcing an idea we would very much like our children to carry with them: take care of the place you're standing in.

Then there is the Greetings From the National Parks Tee, which moves away from the individual characters and celebrates the places themselves. It has the feel of those great old travel posters and postcards—the kind that make you want to throw some clothes in the car and disappear into a national park for a few days.

We loved this one because national parks are one of the rare things that can make you nostalgic for somewhere even when you're not there. There is something about the artwork, the signs, the lodges, the trails and the whole visual language of America's parks that carries its own emotional weight. This shirt captures that beautifully without feeling overly touristy.

And finally, there is the Appalachian Animals Bandana, which obviously hits particularly close to home for us.

We are always going to be suckers for something that celebrates Appalachia without turning it into a caricature.

Our mountains are alive with creatures that belong specifically to this landscape and help define it. A product that treats those animals as something worth noticing and learning about fits perfectly with what we love about The Landmark Project in general. The company isn't just putting “outdoors” on merchandise. At its best, it is reminding people to actually look at the natural world around them.

That's ultimately what connected all six of these products for us.

They're fun. They're well designed. They're things we would actually use and wear.

But underneath all of that is an idea we really love: the things we teach children about the outdoors become the way they think about the outdoors as adults.

Smokey Bear worked because generations of children grew up knowing that they had some responsibility for preventing wildfires.

Woodsy Owl worked because millions of kids grew up knowing that throwing trash on the ground was something you simply weren't supposed to do.

Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to retire messages just because they're old.

Maybe the fact that we still remember them is evidence that they worked.

And if putting Smokey on a hat or Woodsy on a kid's T-shirt gives us an excuse to pass those ideas along one more time, we're very much in favor of it.