FIRE LOOKOUT TOWER'S ACCESS

FIRE LOOKOUT TOWER'S ACCESS
Mt. Pisgah site in Winthrop on national register, to have trail improved
BY BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel

WINTHROP -- Back in the 1960s, a wisp of smoke in the distance sent Dana Roberts to a special instrument to determine direction -- an azimuth -- and then to a book that recorded the locations of mills and town dumps, places where smoke was a regular occurrence.

Occasionally Roberts, now 78 and living in Winthrop, would radio a forest watchman in another lookout tower, and the two would determine if the source of the smoke was unknown and whether a warden should be called to investigate.

"I was hired on as a forest watchman in 1963," Roberts said recently, describing a four-year, seasonal tenure in the fire lookout tower atop Mt. Pisgah in Winthrop. "I went there in April and got done in October. If we were still alive in the spring, they'd hire us again."

The 7-day-a-week job came with a cabin for the family, spectacular views and a steady stream of curious visitors who climbed the steps of the 60-foot-tall steel tower to reach Roberts in the cab at the top.

Now the Mt. Pisgah Fire Tower, decommissioned in 1992 when air patrols replaced tower lookouts, a popular destination for many a day-hiker, has been enrolled in the National Historic Lookout Register and is about to have improved access.

Blue blazes mark the hiking trail to the summit of the 810-foot mountain, and a former road to the top is popular with mountain bikers. Anyone brave enough to mount the stairs to the top can be rewarded with a view of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire -- depending on the weather.

Owned by the Town of Winthrop and managed jointly with the Kennebec Land Trust, which holds a conservation easement, the Mt. Pisgah tower soon should be easier to reach.

A Maine Conservation Corps crew is planning to improve the trails that lead to the summit this Wednesday through Friday, according to Jim Connors, Kennebec Land Trust steward for the Mt. Pisgah properties.

"The way we've been handling trail work is taking advantage of Winthrop's (high school) Day of Caring, the conservation corps, and occasionally organizing a volunteer effort," Connors said.

The close cooperation was evidenced last week when Connors, Winthrop Town Manager Cornell Knight, and Town Councilor Jim Norris replaced four of the wooden steps on the tower.

"Climbing the tower is almost like a rite of passage," Connors said. "It takes courage getting all the way to the top."

For the next project, the town bought cedar planking to be used to build bog bridges.

"The idea is to keep community involved by providing the opportunity for trail work, and to have a stewardship plan in place and know what you're going to do," Connors said. He said the state retains the right to use the tower if needed.

Bill Cobb, Maine Director of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, is scheduled to present certificates about the new designation at a Town Council meeting on Oct. 6.

The National Historic Lookout Register is maintained by the American Resources group in Washington, D.C. The group describes itself as "a cooperative effort of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the National Forestry Association, the National Woodlot Owners Association, the U.S. Forest Service and state foresters and Department of the Interior agencies."

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5326082.html