A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Lookout
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
LOOKOUT’S HISTORY DATES TO 1915
Continued from Page A1
making it easier for fi re crews to
access remote areas, most lookouts
were closed, and many removed.
Mount Ireland remains a valu-
able cog in the fi re-detection sys-
tem in part because of its elevation
— if you head west from the peak you
won’t hit a higher summit until you
get to the Cascades.
But its location is also ideal, said
McCraw, the fi re management offi cer
for the Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest’s Whitman District.
From Mount Ireland’s summit, the
lookout can see swathes of the Wal-
lowa-Whitman as well as parts of
its neighboring national forests, the
Umatilla and Malheur, McCraw said.
On especially clear days the views
extend east into Idaho and north into
Washington.
“It’s a pretty critical one,” McCraw
said.
Mount Ireland also overlooks the
municipal watershed for Sumpter,
where a wildfi re could threaten the
city’s water supply, McCraw said.
But of course a lookout is only
as eff ective as the person who works
there, scanning the hundreds of thou-
early 1950s.) The U.S. Geographic Board approved
the change, and at some point later the agency went
with the current form, Mount Ireland, rather than the
original Ireland Mountain.
The people charged with managing Northeastern
Oregon’s federal forests early on recognized Mount
Ireland’s utility as a fi re lookout.
Except the peak wasn’t called Mount Ireland then.
The fi rst lookout structure, a simple cabin with a
fl at roof to facilitate the lookout’s work, was built
in 1916. A cupola was added to the cabin in 1928,
according to contemporary newspaper reports.
According to Ray Kresek’s comprehensive book,
“Fire Lookouts of Oregon and Washington,” on Aug
28, 1915, just a decade after the Forest Service was
created, agency employees Charles F. Groom and
C.C. Davenport climbed the mountain and estab-
lished a “rag” camp on the white granitic boulders
that make up its summit.
The original cabin was removed in 1957 and re-
placed by the current lookout — a much different
structure made of steel with the expansive glass
windows typical of lookouts.
At that time it was called Bald Mountain.
On Jan. 25, 1917, the Oregon Geographic Board
petitioned the federal government to rename Bald
Mountain as Ireland Mountain. The honoree was not
the island off the west coast of England, but a man
— the late Henry Ireland, former supervisor of the
Whitman National Forest, which includes his name-
sake peak, who died May 31, 1916. (The Wallowa
and Whitman national forests were combined in the
sands of acres where a fi re could
start.
And for the past two years,
McCraw has had to scramble to hire
someone for the position, which pays
about $16.90 per hour.
In 2020, Mount Ireland’s longtime
lookout wasn’t able to return to the
lofty perch, but McCraw had a fair
Unlike many lookouts, which are perched atop a
tower to get above nearby trees, Mount Ireland
needs no such artifi cial means. Besides being the
tallest point in the vicinity, the mountain’s summit is
bare stone, the only trees being whitebark pines stunt-
ed by the nearly arctic climate and frequent strong
winds.
— Jayson Jacoby
amount of time to fi nd a replacement.
Typically the lookout doesn’t start
work at Mount Ireland until late June
or early July, when most of the snow
has melted and the wildfi re risk begins
to rise.
This spring McCraw’s challenge
was even more acute.
The lookout he had enlisted for the
job backed out late in May.
Then someone suggested to
McCraw that he explain his dilemma
to associations of fi re lookout enthusi-
asts, of which there are several.
The Oregon Fire Lookouts posted
about the situation on its Facebook
page on June 4.
McCraw said he has had a “very
good response” from the post, and
several candidates have been in touch.
McCraw said on June 9 that he will
be able to fi ll the vacancy in time to
have Mount Ireland staff ed.
The person he hires will have an
interesting summer, to be sure. Mount
Ireland is pretty remote even by look-
out standards.
You can’t drive to the peak.
The roughly 3 1/2-mile hiking trail
off sets its modest distance with a sig-
nifi cant elevation gain of 2,300 feet
— roughly equivalent to climbing
the Astoria Column about 18 times.
(Except without stairs.)
The nearest settlement is Gran-
ite, about 8 miles from the trailhead.
Sumpter is about 15 miles.
McCraw said the Forest Service
each year hires a helicopter crew to
haul in water, propane and other sup-
plies to the lookout. A technician
checks the radio equipment on the
peak, which includes an antenna and
a repeater.
The Mount Ireland lookout usually
works until mid to late September,
depending on the weather.
Snowstorms are possible in any
month at that elevation, but McCraw
said in some years dry weather per-
sists into October so the lookout
stays on duty through deer season.
Act
Continued from Page A1
EOMG fi le photo
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
ers Act to go after public lands
grazing.
“That’s a great concern ...
because it’s such a vital part of a
small agricultural community,”
he said.
Stern said the bill, on page
16, reads:
“Nothing in this Act or an
amendment made by this Act
aff ects any valid existing right.”
He said, farther down the
page, on line seven, it goes on
to say “nothing abrogates any
existing right, privilege or con-
tract aff ecting federal land held
by any private party without the
consent of that party.”
Another concern many
had during the meeting is that
the new bill will impact exist-
ing Wild and Scenic Rivers or
change their management.
In an email to the soil and
water district that was shared
with the Eagle, Wyden’s fi eld
representative Kathleen Cathey
wrote that administration of
Oregon Wild and Scenic Riv-
ers applies only to rivers and
streams designated as Wild and
Scenic under this act.
Many in the soil and water
district meeting had concerns
that others nominated these
rivers, and locals didn’t have
a voice.
Cathey said that was her
fault in the email.
“I’m sorry for not reach-
ing out proactively,” she said.
“The door is open now.”
Stern said many river seg-
ments were nominated and
supported by ranchers.
Amy Stiner, South Fork
John Day Watershed Coun-
cil coordinator, noted that the
current designations require
more permitting to remove
juniper from private lands.
Additionally, Stiner said,
the current legislation has
been used as an “excuse” to
inhibit necessary restoration
along the South Fork of the
John Day River.
“We are concerned that
adding designations of this
sort to streams, rivers or land
in general will add restric-
tions for managing enti-
ties,” she said, “private lands
included.” This, she said,
could hinder the multiple-use
goal of the public lands.
An additional question the
group had was the reason for
increasing the stream buf-
fer from a quarter-mile to a
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Under the bill’s provisions,
Stern said, the federal land
manager would be mandated
to enter into agreements with
state and local governments to
help fi ght fi res and establish
a forest restoration grant pro-
gram should fi re burn within a
Wild and Scenic River corridor.
Keerins asked who would be
involved in creating the plan.
“Will this be a collaborative
eff ort between agricultural pro-
ducers and the public land man-
agers?” she asked. “Will this be
a blanket management plan fur-
ther restricting our rural way of
life?”
Stern said that local commu-
nities and those interested in the
process are vital in developing a
river management plan.
They help with data collec-
tion, establish baseline condi-
tions and identify issues and
opportunities that need to be
addressed in the planning pro-
cess, Stern said.
He said that local commu-
nities monitor and implement
aspects of the plan.
Stern said sections 10(e) and
11(b)(1) of the Wild and Sce-
nic Rivers Act encourages the
participation of federal, state or
local governments, landowners,
private organizations and citi-
zens in planning, protecting and
administering rivers.
Kyle Sullivan, director of
the Grant Soil and Water Con-
servation District, said environ-
mental groups have used the
current Wild and Scenic Riv-
half-mile.
According to Cathey,
this will allow for more fuel
reduction and prescribed fi re
to reduce wildfi re risk and
improve habitat.
The group also asked
if there were measures to
restrict litigation. According
to Cathey’s email, “Senator
Wyden has never been open
to barring the courthouse
door. This plan allows local
stakeholders to help write
the river management plans
and establish the outstanding
remarkable values.”
Sullivan said the district
is still in the “conversation
stage” and does not have an
offi cial opinion on the pro-
posed legislation.
“I think we’re still trying
to fi gure out what everyone’s
trying to do and what fl exibil-
ity is there,” he said.
Others, such as Grant
County producer Rick Hens-
ley, are worried about the
unintended
consequences
of the bill. Cathey said
in the email that his con-
cerns
are
“absolutely
understood.”
Stiner said she is “looking
forward to learning more.”
“This bill begins the dis-
cussion,” Stern said. “Our
offi ce is still inviting com-
ments and modifi cations to
the legislation and the seg-
ments proposed by Orego-
nians throughout the state.”
The Senate Commit-
tee on Energy and Natural
Resources is scheduled to
hold a hearing on the bill
Wednesday, June 23.
Sullivan said the soil and
water district will discuss
the bill at its meeting July
1. Cathey said comments
would be accepted until
sometime in July.
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