Old Forge, New York, 1991
“The Adirondack Conference”

The 4th semi-annual conference of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the second actual fully recognized meeting, was held in the summer of 1991 at the Northeast Loggers Museum and Interpretive Center in Old Forge, New York. Dubbed “The Adirondack Conference”, it again brought together folks from many states to share stories and anecdotes about forest fire towers and lookout histories.

The Adirondack Mountain region, some six million acres of State and private lands, was combined into the first of it’s kind, a “Preserve”. The devastating fire seasons of 1908 and 1909 had set the need for the establishment of fire towers; some of the first were used here. The Adirondack Mountains are not connected in any way with far reaching mountain chains such as the Appalachians or the Rockies. Geologically, the region is a giant up-lifted dome with gentle hilly ground building into larger hills and mountains and the incredibly beautiful High Peaks region. Early attempts at logging this wild area gradually brought awareness by the State and influential land holders that something needed to be done to protect it for future generations. The Adirondack Preserve was created and laws and regulations for the lands within “the blue line”, as the boundary is called, are still strictly enforced nearly a century later.

Early-day lookouts on rocky balds and tree platforms gave way to wooden and then steel towers, many of which today have been restored by hiking groups and community based efforts. The Forest Fire Lookout Association helped in a large way to focus attention on the plight of the region’s historic fire towers, a battle that goes on yet today to save those that remain.

At the conference, several items were acted on, including Robert's Rules of Order being adopted as a platform for our meetings. “Plus Memberships” were initiated with the National Woodland Owners Association. “Central mailing” was discussed. Presently, our newsletter, “Lookout Network” is being mailed out by each State Director upon receiving a master copy from the editor, and memberships are also handled independently by State Directors. This is a bulky way of doing things and it was realized it is inhibiting the growth of our newsletter. This problem was discussed continually at future conferences until it was finally solved by going entirely to “centralized mailing” and having our National Treasurer handle all incoming memberships. A Membership Directory was begun and other Publishing Policies were discussed and acted upon. The Constitution and By-laws again were worked on, being developed into a working set of documents. And finally, displays and a tour of area fire towers capped another successful meeting of the FFLA.

Mark Clark, a local fire warden in Old Forge served as guide for us to several standing fire towers, among them, Whitcomb Hill and Rondaxe (Bald Mountain), which Mark briefly called into service on his radio while there.

Dave Quam and I, traveling together to Old Forge visited our friend, Forest Ranger Bill Henry on our return in Summit, NY and struck up old acquaintances.

The next meeting of the FFLA would take place the following January in Reddon, Delaware at a State Historic site, formerly a retreat owned by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, and would be dubbed “The Eastern Shore Conference”.

........to be continued........ Bob Spear, National Historian

Back to the Home Page