Happy 40th Birthday, Woodsy Owl!

Give a hoot—and a holler—for Woodsy Owl! Today’s his birthday. Or at least it’s the 40th anniversary of the press conference announcing Woodsy’s arrival. And that’s close enough for us.

       Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin, Mrs. Hardin, and USFS Chief Edward Cliff introduce  the birthday bird, Woodsy Owl. (Courtesy of Chuck Williams)

We won’t bore you with the details of how he came to be. You can learn that at this blog post. Instead, we’ll share the original September 15, 1971 news announcement of his arrival below.

Click to read PDF of full press release announcing Woodsy Owl’s debut.

Let the festivities begin! You might start by putting on your Woodsy t-shirt to go out and throw your Woodsy flying disc. Don’t have one, you say? You can order them here. In his honor, please throw birdseed instead of confetti. We wouldn’t want to litter on the Little Guy’s birthday.