Newcomb, New York
A number of issues were discussed at the Board Meeting which will be addressed directly. Once again, we had the observation that not enough time was left for state reports. It is hard to think of what we might have cut out......we covered the current business and focused on the wonderful reports from the fire tower restoration committees. Secretary Ray Grimes will expedite the minutes and they will be circulated to the Directors AND placed on the FFLA web site as soon as possible.

Overall, we had a busy conference. On Friday we had dinner at the Huntington Forest Dinning Hall in Newcomb where all the meetings were held. Jack Freeman gave a slide show on the history of the Adirondack fire towers and information on the towers that have been restored. Then a brief FFLA Meeting was held and conducted by Keith Argo. A total of eight states were represented. Two great hikes on Saturday to Goodnow and Owl's Head fire towers. We climbed a total of 10 miles. The views weren't great because of the fog in the morning and rain in the late afternoon. But everyone enjoyed the company of the hikers.

Then at night, Tom Martin, the Region 5 head foresterf from Ray Brook, welcomed the 35 guests. He told of the history of the towers in the Adirondacks and the efforts to restore the tower and those towers that are scheduled to be taken down due to land classification status. Then he showed slides of his year on Pharoah Mountain fire tower. We had seven (Arab, Bald, Azure, Blue, Hadley, Owl's Head and Vanderwacker mountain) fire tower restoration committees report on their projects. Most had displays and photos. Then they sold T-shirts and patches. Paul Laskey showed slides about the history of the causes of fires in the Adirondacks and the development of fire towers by the state. He then showed the fire towers he and his family have hiked to throughout the state.

This information will be in his book to be published next year. Documentary producer, Deb Shufelt of Albany, showed a video the Mike Camoin is producing on the history of the Adirondak fire towers On Sunday morning people had breakfast and most went home because it rained all night and the conditions weren't favorable for hiking. Plus we were quite pooped from the previous day's hike.