Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
- Okay, good morning.
I'd like to thank everybody for joining us here today.
My name is Leo Kay.
I'm the Director of Communication
for the U.S. Forest Service.
Before I turn it over to Chief Tidwell
to make his remarks,
I'd like to provide a little context
to explain how we all wound up in this room
together this morning.
About a month ago,
Donna Drelick of my staff
came into my office saying she had a great idea
she wanted to run by me.
She said that she had recently read an article
in which the actress Betty White
was quoted as saying when she was a little girl,
she always wanted to be a forest ranger,
but they didn't allow little girls to do that
way back then.
So Donna said,
"I think we ought to make her a forest ranger,
an honorary forest ranger."
I said, "Donna, that's a great idea."
I said, "But good luck getting through to her."
[laughter]
I said, "Somebody of Ms. White's star caliber
is notoriously difficult to get through to."
Well, a month later,
thanks to Donna's perseverance,
diplomacy, and creativity, here we are.
So, Donna, thank you.
[applause]
I'd like to now turn it over
to Chief Tom Tidwell to make some remarks.
- Well, thank you, Leo.
[laughter]
Well, this is kind of a special occasion for me.
And it's an honor to be here today
to pay a special tribute to Betty White.
So, I understand, all-- all your life,
you've loved animals.
And as a child, you dreamed of becoming a forest ranger.
But as Leo mentioned, in those days,
professional careers in the Forest Service
were not open to women.
You also dreamed of managing a zoo.
But that career path wasn't open to women either.
Still, you persevered,
and you made the Los Angeles Zoo
your second home.
For many years,
you've helped take care of the animals there
and elsewhere across the country.
Now, Betty, there are also other animals, too,
that need your special care.
One of them once found their home
in the Washington Zoo.
He was the namesake of Smokey Bear.
And as you might remember,
he was rescued as a cub by firefighters
on the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico.
Now, there are National Forests and Grasslands
all over the country in almost every state
and all of them full of wildlife.
All together, they cover an area
about twice the size of the state of California.
They belong to the American people
who have entrusted them to our care.
They are special places
where people can get outdoors
with their families and friends
and connect with nature.
Now that 80% of Americans live in metropolitan areas,
it's especially important for kids to get outdoors
to be able to experience nature,
to maybe catch a fish, to see a deer,
and just get out
to smell the leaves after it rains.
One of our main jobs
in the National Forests and Grasslands
is to protect those opportunities to get outdoors
and see all kinds of plants and animals.
We protect habitat
for hundreds of our native North American animals,
including many of the signature species
of the American West
like elk, salmon and lynx, wolf and grizzly,
bison, cougar, and eagle.
Many of our native species have nowhere else to go.
As roads and development
have snaked into almost every corner of America,
the National Forests and Grasslands
have become the last, the best hope
for many rare and sensitive species.
According to the Nature Conservancy,
the National Forests and Grasslands
harbor more imperiled species
than any other land ownership.
Now, as a forest ranger,
are you up for helping us to take care of these animals?
[laughter]
We could sure use your help.
And I'm sorry you couldn't join us before.
Judging from your great career,
you would have made marvelous contributions
to our agency,
to the cause of conservation across the United States.
But it's better late than never.
And, Betty, you are a role model for little girls
and, I think, a role model for all of us
never to give up on our dreams.
As you might have noticed from the folks in uniform
here today, things have changed in the Forest Service.
We have come a long way,
and we already have a request for you
to supervise a youth crew in Montana next summer.
[laughter]
So, Betty White, on behalf of the Forest Service,
I ask you to join us in the cause of conservation
by becoming an honorary forest ranger.
Your passion for animals, for nature,
for wildlife,
perfectly suits you to our profession.
So with no further ado,
I would like to make the formal presentation.
And today the Forest Service is proud to proclaim
Betty White as an honorary forest ranger.
[applause]
And we've also got a hat for you.
- Oh, I know the hat.
[laughter]
- Well, Ms. White,
it's a pleasure to present you
with your own Forest Service badge
which we would--
- Oh...
[laughter]
- I knew that was gonna happen.
- Smokey will always steal the show, you know.
Your very own Forest Service badge.
- Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- You are absolutely welcome.
And we'd also love for you to accept
this Forest Service Stetson hat.
And if you'd like to try that on, we would--
we would--here, I'll hold your badge for you.
- Thank you.
- There we go.
[applause]
- I just can't tell you what this day means to me.
My mother and dad and I were pretty--
very close pals.
And my first memories are riding in front of my dad
on his horse as we packed into the High Sierras.
And we'd go in there for three weeks
and never see another two-legged soul--
other than birds--
in our lives.
And then we'd come back out,
and I'd live all the next year
waiting for our next trip into the wilderness.
Wilderness is harder and harder to find these days
on this beautiful planet.
And we're abusing our planet
to the point of almost no return.
But whether I've been a legitimate forest ranger
or not, I've been working for the cause
for the last 89 years.
And I will continue to work for it
as much as I can.
I know this is an honorary position.
But it's also one where I can use a voice
to try to protect
the remaining beautiful parts of this gorgeous world
we live on.
And I cannot thank you enough.
As excited as I am today
and as grateful as I am,
I know two people who would be over the moon,
my mother and dad.
Thank you.
[applause]
Thank you so much.
Oh.
- One more thing for you.
- Oh-oh-oh-oh!
Oh, thank you, Smokey.
[laughs]
Oh.
I'm going to a wonderful,
wonderful celebration for Tina Fey this evening.
And it's a formal affair.
Would it be all right if I wore the hat?
[applause]
Thank you so much.
Oh, my...
Thank you so much.
Can I--
- We will--we can make sure we get all this back for you
so you don't need to--
- Can I take him with me?
[laughter]
- He would probably--
I think Smokey would like
to go to a formal affair tonight.
- Thank you, thank you, thank you
with all my heart.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- It's our honor. Thank you so much.