National Smokejumper Association - Mission Statement
The National Smokejumper Association, through a cadre of volunteers and partnerships, is dedicated to preserving the history and lore of smoke jumping, maintaining and restoring our nation's forest and grassland resources, responding to special needs of smokejumpers and their families and advocating for the programs evolution.
Our values are comradeship, education, pride in work well done, and loyalty.
As a major fundraising part of the NSA, we have established this website as a way for NSA members and supporters of NSA - smokejumpers, families and friends to contribute to our cause.
In Memoriam
The NSA pays tribute to the more than 5,000 men and women who have served our nation as smokejumpers since aerial delivery of fire fighters began with experimental jumps in 1939.
In the link at the right, we have provided a list of the 30 smokejumpers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Read their stories in the other link. You'll find they were no more heroic or foolhardy than those of us who have also worked the "best job in the world" and were lucky enough to have survived.
These jumpers were simply doing their jobs when their luck ran out. If you're a jumper, you'll identify with many of them.
Major Programs of the National Smokejumper Assocation
The Good Samaritan Fund
Most everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan… the story told in Luke 10:30-37. It tells of a man who fell on hard times and was in need of help. In the story it was a case of the man being robbed and beaten and left for dead. Several passed by on the road where he was laying and offered no help. Finally, one did stop and offer the help needed.
Hard times can be the lot of any of us… often for no reason or fault of our own. Whenever and wherever it happens the victim needs someone who will stop and lend a hand… someone who will take the time and make the effort and show the compassion of a ‘Good Samaritan’.
The Scholarship Program
The NSA supports and funds 3 separate scholarship programs. 1) The Art Jukkala Scholarship Program awards scholarships to children of smokejumpers killed in the line of duty. To date, four scholarships have been awarded, totaling $10,000. 2) The NSA Trail Maintenance Smokejumper Chair Scholarship Fund provides one yearly scholarship to a smokejumper or child of a smokejumper forestry student at the University of Montana. 3) Beginning in 2011, the NSA Scholarship program will provide a total of $2,000 annually to smokejumpers or family members pursuing more education.
The Trails Program
The NSA Trails Program completed its eleventh season in 2010. From the High Sierra in California to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, from the Iditarod Trail in Alaska, to the Bob Marshall in Montana, former smokejumpers are opening and maintaining trails, and maintaining and repairing backcountry cabins. In 2010, 24 projects were completed in 6 states by 197 volunteers. This program continues to expand in popularity and accomplishment. In 2011, we hope to add West Virginia to the list of project states, our first in the east. Go to: http://nsatrail.blogspot.com
The Smokejumper History Program
The smokejumper history program is very active in documenting and preserving the history of smokejumping. Over 250 video interviews have been conducted with early smokejumpers and preserved in our permanent archive at the University of Montana’s Mansfield Library. Also preserved there, are thousands of scanned and original photographs, and historical documents.
The NSA Magazine and Website
The NSA quarterly magazine, “Smokejumper” contains articles, stories, and photos on all aspects of smokejumper history, the various endeavors of current and former smokejumpers, and updates from all of the jump bases on current events and activities. It has become a high quality publication that is eagerly awaited by NSA members.
