Idaho Fire Lookouts

10/29/2026

Lookout Mountain on a foggy morning.
https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/lookout-mountain/

10/28/2026

Sooooooo excited to share! Mallard got some recent TLC from the FS!!!!!!

10/22/2026

https://journals.lib.uidaho.edu/index.php/lookouts/

The inaugural issue of Lookouts is officially live! 🌲🔭

Published by the University of Idaho Press, this new open-access journal explores the history, built heritage, and land ethics of fire lookout towers and observation structures. Free to read online now at the link in our bio!

🔗 journals.lib.uidaho.edu/index.php/lookouts/

10/19/2026

We have been INSANELY BUSY and have so much to share! Stay tuned!

10/13/2026

The photo contest is still open! Dont forget yo submit!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F1mZ9iMsE/

2026 FFLA CALENDAR CONTEST!!!

Submissions will be accepted until 2159 on Thursday, Oct 15, at which point all submissions will be added to a FB album for public vote.

1. ONE image per category per person with the exception of the Lookout Worked category. If the category isn’t stated on your entry, your submission may not be included in the contest.
2. Image must have been taken between Oct 1, 2025 and Oct 1, 2026
3. In case of a tie, editors will give preference to FFLA members
4. Submissions via Facebook (as a comment on this post only), Messenger, IG Messenger or email to [email protected]
5. Your submission is taken as giving FFLA your permission to publish the image in any of the following: calendar, newsletter, or to generate interest.
6. If your image wins by popular consent, but we are unable to contact you for a high quality image, your shot may not be used.
7. Submission information should be in the following format: lookout structure name, structure owner and manager (if applicable), state located, and date of image. See caption below for example.
8. Drone shots must be labeled as such, and will not be considered if taken illegally (e.g. in a designated Wilderness).

Categories
1. Lookout worked (image by staff, paid, or volunteer only). Staff may submit up to 3 images per person in this category
2. Night
3. Lookout visited but not rented. We understand this is a challenge since many of you visit lots of lookouts in a year!
4. Lookout rented
5. Lost Lookouts: This category will not be voted on, but please send us images of lookout structures lost during the 2026 fire season. We hope to have a page of images of the lookouts pre- and post-fire.

Caption for image with this post (and example of how to submit):
Tahquitz Peak LO, San Bernardino NF, CA by Bruce May October 2025

10/10/2026

Can you name this tower?
Hint - not in Idaho.

10/07/2026

2026 FFLA CALENDAR CONTEST!!!

Submissions will be accepted until 2159 on Thursday, Oct 15, at which point all submissions will be added to a FB album for public vote.

1. ONE image per category per person with the exception of the Lookout Worked category. If the category isn’t stated on your entry, your submission may not be included in the contest.
2. Image must have been taken between Oct 1, 2025 and Oct 1, 2026
3. In case of a tie, editors will give preference to FFLA members
4. Submissions via Facebook (as a comment on this post only), Messenger, IG Messenger or email to [email protected]
5. Your submission is taken as giving FFLA your permission to publish the image in any of the following: calendar, newsletter, or to generate interest.
6. If your image wins by popular consent, but we are unable to contact you for a high quality image, your shot may not be used.
7. Submission information should be in the following format: lookout structure name, structure owner and manager (if applicable), state located, and date of image. See caption below for example.
8. Drone shots must be labeled as such, and will not be considered if taken illegally (e.g. in a designated Wilderness).

Categories
1. Lookout worked (image by staff, paid, or volunteer only). Staff may submit up to 3 images per person in this category
2. Night
3. Lookout visited but not rented. We understand this is a challenge since many of you visit lots of lookouts in a year!
4. Lookout rented
5. Lost Lookouts: This category will not be voted on, but please send us images of lookout structures lost during the 2026 fire season. We hope to have a page of images of the lookouts pre- and post-fire.

Caption for image with this post (and example of how to submit):
Tahquitz Peak LO, San Bernardino NF, CA by Bruce May October 2025

10/05/2026

We NEED to share this profile with you! Kathryn is an unbelievably talented artist! We purchased one of her pieces of Lookout art recently and we are THRILLED with it!
Check out her account!!!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTD29OZEgiG/?stkn=MWNxNzJoZ3o5Y3J6cw==

10/05/2026

Registration for the 2027 National Interdisciplinary Lookout Conference - Beyond the Smoke is now open!

The conference will take place on March 20, 2027, and will feature a keynote by Don Scheese, author of Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness. We'll also hold a raffle to benefit repairs to the historic High Rock Lookout in Washington State. https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/lookoutconference/

Registration includes access to the conference, a light breakfast and lunch, dinner after the conference, and entry into the raffle. The fee is$75 for anyone who registers by January 1(which is consistent with our previous year’s fee).

Beyond the Smoke asks what happens when a tool for detection becomes a tool for reflection — when the act of watching, sustained long enough, turns outward into stewardship and inward into meaning. This year’s conference invites presentations, panels, and conversations that follow the fire lookout past its original mandate: into rescue and resilience work, into literature and art, into architecture and preservation, into ecology and land management, and into whatever else a life spent watching the landscape entails. We are always interested in presentations that discuss how the fire lookout’s original purpose of detecting fires has endured despite technological advances in GIS and remote sensing. We ask that presenters discussing fire watching acknowledge the tension with newer technology and how human staffed observation points have adapted to continue fire watching over the years. Please see our conference website for a complete description of theme and subthemes.

Any questions can be directed to Michael Decker at mdecker at uidaho.edu. To register, submit an abstract, or learn more about the details of the conference, please visit our conference website. (Photo Credit - University of Idaho - Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning, staffer sitting on the deck of Ruffneck Peak lookout)

10/03/2026

A little gathering of Lookout Royalty! Such a blast!!!!