LOCALadk Magazine

Summer 2019 LOCALadk Magazine 41 LOCALadk Hikers are lured to Hurricane Mountain by three excellent trails, a bald peak with spectacular 360 -degree views that shine on social media, and a newly reopened fire tower. Out- side Magazine recently ranked Hurricane as the "Best Hike in New York." So it's a good thing the state and volunteers are hustling to protect those trails and finish restoring the fire tower. They're also mounting an education effort to help all those eager hikers understand that they, too, need to safeguard this wilderness. Hurricane's fire tower was constructed in 1919 as part of a statewide effort to protect forests and communities from fires. More than 50 of the state's 127 towers were built in the 6-million acre Adirondack Park, and the vast majority of those were erected in the 1910s, following the devastatingly dr y fire years of 1903, 1908, and 1913. Before then, the state had no early warning network. Lumbering was essentially un- regulated, and the ember-spewing locomotives that hauled timber out of the woods set fire to thousands of acres. State government woke up to the danger, regulating lum- bering, hiring mountaintop obser vers, and eventually build- ing steel towers. While 2,000 fires were spotted annually through the 1920s, the acreage burned per fire plummeted. Early warning worked! Gradually, airplanes replaced the towers. Hurricane's tow- er was mothballed in 1979, and ultimately slated for dem- olition as a nonconforming structure in a wilderness area. However, a determined local campaign and changes in state policy saved that tower and others. In November 2014, the state Department of Environmental Conser vation officially granted the structure a new life, as a "historically significant resource" adapted to educate the public about "the role of fire towers, the people that worked in them, and the natural resources they protected." Local volunteers formed a Friends of Hurricane Mountain group to partner with the state in renovating the tower and performing trail maintenance. New stairs and fencing were added, and volunteers painted the entire 35-foot structure. Once a new roof is flown up and installed—projected for lat- er in 2019 —the Friends plan on recreating the map table ob- ser vers used for sighting fires. They also plan to erect inter- pretive signs to help people appreciate how the obser vers did their jobs. The Friends also hire summer summit stewards—trained with the Adirondack Mountain Club program—to work atop the peak and educate hikers. They do not just talk about how the Forest Preser ve was protected from fire, but about the need to protect it today from the hordes of modern day hik- ers. One hundred years ago, Hurricane's tower helped save the magnificent Adirondack Forest Preser ve from ruinous fires. Now that "Leave No Trace" has replaced "Only You Can Pre- vent Forest Fires" as the dominant mantra for protecting the Adirondacks, the 3,694-foot peak can be part of the effort to keep the woods from being loved to death. This summer the Friends will celebrate the 100th anniver- sar y of the Hurricane Fire Tower, opening a special exhibit August 8th at the Adirondack Histor y Museum in Elizabeth- town, and leading hikes to the summit on August 10th. For additional information on the celebrations, specifics on hiking trails, and more photos, go to: www.hurricanefiretower.org Happy Birthday Hurricane Mountain Fire Tower! 100 Years By Peter Slocum

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