Conference Theme: Lookouts and the Wilderness

This year’s theme, “Lookouts and the Wilderness,” explores the complex relationship between fire lookouts and federally designated Wilderness areas, as well as the concept of “wilderness” itself. We welcome presentations about fire lookouts in both federally designated Wilderness and also places that have a “wild” character.

1. Fire Lookouts in the (w)ilderness and the (W)ilderness

We seek presentations that examine fire lookouts located within wild spaces of all kinds.

  • Lookouts in the Wilderness:
    • Stories about staffing remote wilderness lookouts or discovering abandoned sites.
    • The feelings of wildness these structures inspire.
    • The meaning of wilderness in the context of lookouts.
    • The debate on whether they should be allowed in Wilderness areas. We are interested in getting into the weeds on this debate!

  • Fire Lookouts Adjacent to Wilderness

    • Some lookouts are intentionally placed adjacent to official Wilderness areas to monitor them.
    • The role of lookouts in “Wilderness fire monitoring.”
    • Wilderness fire policy as it relates to the space called the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

3. Lookouts and the Wilderness of the Mind

Roderick Frazier Nash published his seminal Wilderness text, Wilderness and the American Mind, in the 1970s, establishing that Wilderness is both a physical space and a human concept. The fire lookout, too, exists in both spaces.

  • Lookouts were built for official purposes—watching over valuable timber and monitoring fire.
  • However, placing a person on a mountaintop often inspires a “wilderness of the mind”: the human mind runs wild, starting books, championing the environment, and connecting to nature.
  • This theme focuses on the internal, conceptual space of fire lookouts that occurs within the human mind.

4. Lookouts and a Wilderness Quality

This theme explores how lookouts might help maintain or even enhance the wilderness experience.

  • Some may argue that the architecture of the lookout is part of the larger architecture of the Wilderness.
  • This session may act as a counter-argument to lookout purism, which often rejects the lookout structure within Wilderness.
  • We welcome discussions on how Wilderness has evolved and how new adaptations (like one that emphasizes the human architecture of Wilderness) may be necessary.

5. Lookouts as Structure and Other Wilderness Networks

This session is all about the nuts and bolts of lookouts.

  • Structure and Restoration: We want to hear about Wilderness and rural structure building from experts who have constructed or restored lookouts.
  • The Detection System: We are also interested in hearing about the broader network that lookouts are a part of (e.g., ranger stations, dispatch networks, fire crews, or pilots).
  • The lookout structure and its network is an impressive act that takes tremendous technical knowledge and a unified theory of cooperation. This session can include how lookouts are built, preserved, and how they interact within a broader communication system.

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