WELCOME TWO NEW CHAPTERS!

INDIANA AND LOUISIANA
It is always wonderful to share good news. I am pleased to announce the establishment of two new state chapters of the Forest Fire Lookout Association: Indiana and Louisiana. Both are lead by U.S. Forest Service people. Teena Ligman is the Public Affairs Specialist for the Hoosier National Forest. Mark Gutzman is a District Archaeologist on the Kitsatchie National Forest.

Indiana once had 32 fire towers, and 10 remain. There is one remaining on the Hoosier National Forest next to the Charles Deam Wilderness, and the other nine are on various Indiana State Forests. One of those on the Clark State Forest has been restored and four more are scheduled to be restored soon. One of the early tasks of the new Indiana group will to locate the remains of the other 22 fire towers and determine if they are still standing on private land or have been removed and stored or relocated somewhere else.

The Kitsatchie National Forest has just completed the restoration of the historic Mosley Hill Lookout and relocation to a former CCC site near the Ranger Station. It had to be moved because of a highway widening project. There are still quite a number of fire towers in Louisiana, most state facilities and many located near ranger unit offices. Louisiana once had 200 fire towers and about 25 remain, mostly in the southern half of the state.

NEW POSTAGE STAMP APPROVED!
Impress your friends with a Lookout Stamp on your Christmas card! The Executive Committee has just approved a fire lookout postage stamp available through Zazzle. Go to www.ffla.org to learn about the program and to order.

ANNUAL MEETING
The FFLA is completing a very successful year with our membership approaching 1000 for the first time. At our upcoming annual meeting of the Board this January 19 (Saturday) at the Tillamook State Forest Visitor Center west of Portland, Oregon we will plan our most ambitious year yet. For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, why not plan to attend the meeting? These meetings are always fun, and Oregon Director Howard Verschoor has interesting field visits planned for Sunday. Our meetings are open and everyone is welcome!

As you read through this issue, take a moment to reflect on some of the material here. What are we missing? Do you have information or skills that will help save lookouts? Let us know! Honestly, we want to hear from you!

Keith A. Argow
Chairman of the Board
argow@cs.net

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