Hanging out

Fourth graders visited the Bearlodge Ranger District offices on Monday to hang the decorations they crafted to adorn the Forest Service's Christmas Tree. As well as the ones the two classes made with the help of Halley Legge and Tiffany Davis a couple of weeks ago, the kids brought along snow-window ornaments they made in class.

Once the kids had taken turns to hang their decorations around the tree – which, appropriately, had been brought to the office from the Black Hills National Forest – they were invited to take a break to enjoy cookies and juice.

A special visitor entertained them as they did so: Smokey Bear. Smokey offered high fives and fist bumps around the room but, as District Ranger Mike Gosse explained, he wasn't allowed to partake of the snacks as we mustn't feed bears from the forest.