For our thirteenth
meeting of the Forest Fire Lookout Association our Conference convened
at the Cliff Park Inn, at Milford Pennsylvania.
The setting was an 1880's period bed & breakfast Inn established and
still operated by the Buchanan family. Milford, long known in the East
as the summer residence of the Pinchot family, who were the most influential
voices in the creation of the U.S.Forest Service at the turn of the 19th
century. The ornate and palatial summer home at "Grey Towers"
was the focus of
our Saturday afternoon program.
Here we were guided through a tour of the home by the manager and had
a workshop session hosted by the curator on cataloging artifacts.
A group photo op on the front lawn with the parapets of the residence
as a backdrop, and a short hike down to Pinchot falls on Sawkill Creek,
worked us up for an appetite for the afternoon dinner which was held at
the Cliff Park Inn. Sixty-three people created a full house for the meal
and many of us renewed friendships and embarked on new ones. The traditional
Saturday dinner has become a hallmark of our Association meetings, and
the
preparations for this one were superb.
The previous evening, we held our Friday evening Board of Directors meeting
in an adjacent building on the grounds of Cliff Park The spacious meeting
room, complete with fireplace was the setting for discussions ranging
from the announcement by Steve Cummings that our Association's Incorporation
papers are finalized and we are now officially a Corporate entity, with
our Directors as Corporation officers. The final phase of these procedures,
that of non-profit status will be pursued by Mr Cummings.
Our host, Mr Buchanan, greeted us to Cliff Park with a short dissertation
on his family's long career in managing the extensive grounds and providing
guests with a relaxing and
idyllic setting. Gary Weber,Deputy Chairman,West was introduced and it
was noted that this was a milestone, that both Deputy Chairmen East &
West, and the present Chairman and past Chairman,plus other executive
officers were all present together.
Discussions ensued on several topics: The definition of votes of Co-directors,the
position of an Eastern Archivist, the Treasury report was given by Fred
Knauf (NY). It was so noted that Mr Lance Perry of Connecticut has donated
an additional one thousand dollars to the Association. The National Newsletter
was discussed and further discussions on this were tabled for a later
committee meeting which took place at the evening dinner on Sunday night
in Milford.
Lastly on Friday night, State
reports pertaining to membership were given by those Directors present
and a total count of national membership was attempted, however without
the
reports of most of the other State Chapters this was difficult.
Steve Cummings reported on
the progress of the National membership list and it is hoped this will
soon be available. And finally we touched on the subject of future conferences.
Several
locations were suggested but it was Scott Kline's (OR) present study
work in South Carolina which drew the most attention as a possible winter
conference site. More on this in the future.
Saturday's events started with a buffet breakfast at the Inn and the
start of the day's program at 9 a.m.
Chairman Isenberg introduced various dignitaries and called for State
reports on Lookout status. These were given by Pennsylvania, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Oregon*, Idaho, and Virginia,
with secondary reporting done on Maine, Minnesota*, West Virginia, Delaware*,
Maryland*, Alberta Canada, Washington and Western Montana. National
Historic Lookout activity was reviewed as part of the State
reports as was restoration projects underway.
Special reporting was done
on the South Carolina Research work underway by Scott Kline. Scott reports
that 172 firetowers in the state have so far been documented with several
under study for on going restoration work. 142 of these sites are Forestry
Commission lookouts, the remainder being either private, National Forest
locations or Fish & Wildlife sites. South Carolina is looking to
take down about 130 of these lookouts in the near
future.
Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry was well represented and guest speakers
were introduced by Steve Cummings. The morning's schedule humming along
as planned, our last order of business before breaking for the noon
meal was Voting for the offices of Secretary, Eastern Archivist and
Western Deputy Chairman. Write in ballots having been cast, the few
remaining who had not voted were quickly counted and the select committee
man reported that Ellen Isenberg was reelected Secretary, Iris Baird
of New Hampshire elected Eastern Archivist and incumbent Gary Weber
of Idaho also reelected as Western Deputy Chair.
As reported on earlier, the events proceeded after lunch at Grey Towers.
The Saturday evening session was devoted to guest speakers which included
Mr John Bitzer, the retired former Chief Forest Fire Warden of the Pennsylvania
Bureau of Forestry. Tony Cardwell, Forest Fire Supervisor for District
19 and Rich Ruis, Forest Fire Inspector for the district also gave talks
on the status of their Districts fire fighting, prevention, and lookouts.
Mr Tim Sullivan, Supervising Chief Ranger for Bear Mountain/Palisades
Interstate Park Commission NY gave a stirring and poignant rendition
on what it means to be a wildland firefighter and the extreme sacrifice
given by the crews of the 1947 Mann Gulch tragedy and last year's terrible
loss of 14
firefighters at South Mountain, Colorado. Tim began his career as a
lookout operator on Jacky Jones mountain in Harriman Park NY.
The evening sharing session was punctuated by slide shows, and reviewing
videos from various states. Shirley and Kevin Goodrich who are volunteer
operators at the Mount Hope Firetower in Sanford,Maine presented Steve
Cummings with a beautiful hand carved "Smokey Bear" plaque
and inscription for his untiring efforts in developing this Conference.
Kevin also brought a recording of the horrific fire storm which swept
Southern Maine, destroying 200,000 acres in the 1940's.
Larry Paul attending from
Long Island,New York presented his slide show on eastern firetowers
he has used at many locations. Larry, a long time firewarden and lookout
operator, hiker,and conservationist recounted his experiences on Long
Island's long gone firetowers, of which there were seven.
The remaining time of the
Conference stretched over Sunday,when a bus tour of area fire towers
was done courtesy of the PA Bureau of Forestry, an executive committee
meeting, Sunday night where questions of the future of our national
newsletter were resolved and demobilization and last ditch researching
was done on Monday morning.
This article is a summary
of the events of the Conference at Milford, much more was discussed
and a detailed 14 page account will be available through State Chapter
Directors
Respectfully submitted by
Bob Spear,Deputy Chairman;Eastern Region
Addendum to
the Conference report:
Omitted in the previous accounting of Saturday evening's events was
Larry Paul's slide show on eastern fire towers. Larry, a long time Conservationist,
hiker, firewarden on Long Island NY, educator, and fire tower historian
uses this slide program on many occassions at presentations. It was
with Larry's invaluable help that the history of Long Island New York's
fire towers was documented, his priceless slides and photographs of
eastern New York State's long gone fire lookouts figured extensively
in the writing of "Fire Lookouts of the Northeast"
Kevin and Shirley Goodrich who are volunteer operators at the Mount
Hope firetower in Sanford, Maine presented Steve Cummings with a handsomely
carved Smokey Bear plaque with inscription for his efforts in making
this Conference a Success. Kevin also brought a VHS tape of the great
wildland fire which happened in southern Maine in the late 1940's when
over 200,000 acres burned to the seacoast. Entire towns were lost and
hundreds were left homeless, all caused by several careless people burning
leaves and slash. Kevin was a young firefighter in that disaster and
briefly recounted his experiences when one of his fellow firefighters
lost his life in the blaze.
Missing from this report is the many "networking" and time
sharing moments that members and guests enjoyed with one another. Those
friends that could not attend were remembered and the many others across
the land who have not been able to attend one of our conferences we
hope some day to meet. Keith Argow, our good friend from Virginia who
in his own
words "make us appear somewhat bigger than we actually are..."by
reporting on our Association's activities and advising apprehensive
State officials about the ground swell movement on Lookout Research
and Preservation in the nation by our Association, which helps sway
opinions about listings' on the National Historic Lookout Register.,
gave his customary advisory talk on the decline of Forest fire lookouts
in the world. Keith is pursuing information on the few states which
had but one firetower known. Alaska-1, Kansas-1,Hawaii-some, Nebraska-1
(NHLR) possibly a second, and also those states who have scores
remaining but little contact with the FFLA or the NHLR* In the west,
a lookout in Oregon which had been carefully demolitioned by accuratly
set charges to bring it down without damaging the
cabin on top, which was to be saved and restored at a different site,
was carelessly and totally destroyed by a prison assigned inmate crew
sent to the site to "clean up". They cleaned up so thoroughrily
that nothing remained of the tower cabin, much less anything else. These
types of mistakes "must not be tolerated...and will be followed
up on to determine responsibility." These historic sites when they
are identified as such and funds and efforts expended to preserve them
should deserve as much consideration and care in handling as any other
historic structure. They are pieces of the nation's cultural history
just as importantly as covered bridges,lighthouses, and presidential
birthplaces.-Keith Argow
Our next Pennsylvania Conference
will take place at Mont Alto,Pennsylvania in Franklin county. Mont Alto
is considered to be the birthplace of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
and we will be helping to celebrate the authority's 100 year centennial
in August 1995. For those Civil War history buffs, Gettysburg National
Battlefield Park is located about 18 miles east of Mont Alto.
<reviewed & re edited
07/08/97 Secretary FFLA>
reviewed Feb 17th 2004 Rich Text WIN98
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