A one-day conference on fire lookouts in the human environment — their history, architecture, ecology, literature, and future — bringing together scholars, fire managers, restorers, and the people who have spent seasons in the cab.

Keynote

Don Scheese on a high mountain ridge

This year will feature keynote speaker Don Scheese, author of Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout’s Life in the River of No Return Wilderness.

Raffle

We will hold a raffle to benefit High Rock Lookout’s restoration efforts after last year’s vandalism.

High Rock Lookout perched on a cliff edge at sunset, with Mount Rainier rising above a sea of clouds
High Rock Lookout, with Mount Rainier beyond.

  • Present

    Abstracts of up to 500 words are due Feb 1, 2027. Long sessions and short panel talks are both welcome.

    Call for abstracts

  • Attend

    Saturday, March 20, 2027, on the University of Idaho campus and around downtown Moscow. Registration includes lunch and the evening banquet.

    Register · Getting here

  • Watch

    Sessions, keynotes, and abstracts from past conferences, and Lookouts, the journal that grew out of them.

    Past sessions · Proceedings

Sponsored by the University of Idaho’s College of Art and Architecture, College of Graduate Studies, College of Natural Resources, and Library, in partnership with the Forest Fire Lookout Association. See the 2026 program (PDF).