Fire lookout · Glenn County, California
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (I-5) Lookout
Also known as I-5 (Sacramento Wildlife Refuge)
100-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7x7 ft cab, built 1937 with the new refuge; still standing behind a gate; registered on the NHLR in 2019.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Tower sits behind a gate on the refuge headquarters grounds; only authorized personnel may reach it (2024 visitor report)
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerAermotor 100-foot X-brace open steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot observation cabThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1937
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- 97 ft (30 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Glenn County, California
- Coordinates
- 39.42979, −122.18399
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-sacramento-national-wildlife-refuge-i-5
View from the cab
What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.
Downloads about 3.2 MB of terrain data the first time.
Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.
History
Then and now
- 1937 BuiltBuilt as part of the project to establish the refuge; some documents call it a fire lookout tower, though it was likely also used for wildlife observationSources: nhlr.org, fws.gov
- 1937 EventRefuge established in January 1937 with the purchase of Spalding Ranch; a CCC camp housed up to 200 men at the headquarters areaSource: fws.gov
- No record between 1937 and 1986
- 1986 EventSite noted as the I-5 Lookout in the 1986 Thornton surveySource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1986 and 2019
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the NHLR November 27, 2019Source: nhlr.org
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
Old maps of this spot
USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The lookout at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is a 100-foot Aermotor steel tower with a small 7-by-7-foot observation cab on top.1 It was built in 1937 as part of the project to set up the refuge.1,2 The register places the tower in Glenn County.1 Wikipedia lists the refuge in Glenn and Colusa Counties, between the towns of Willows and Maxwell.3
In January 1937 the federal government acquired the 10,775-acre Spalding Ranch and named the site the Sacramento Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.2 A Civilian Conservation Corps camp housed up to 200 men at the headquarters area, and the men built levees, water control structures and delivery ditches.2
The register notes that several documents describe the structure as a fire lookout tower, but it was likely also used for wildlife observation, as was common at other refuges.1 A 1986 survey called it the I-5 Lookout, probably for Interstate 5, which runs just west of the refuge.1 The register listed the tower on November 27, 2019.1
A blog post from September 2024 says the tower could easily be seen standing tall behind the buildings from the visitor center parking lot.4 Only authorized personnel can get to the tower, which stands behind a gate on the headquarters grounds.4 The visitor center was not open during the blogger's visit due to staffing shortages, but the tower can be seen from the refuge's auto route.4
Please treat the tower as closed to the public and do not try to climb it.
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (I-5) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/sacramento-national-wildlife-refuge-i-5-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge - About Us, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/sacramento/about-us (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_National_Wildlife_Refuge (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2024/09/21/sacramento-national-wildlife-refuge/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story
More about this lookout elsewhere
- NHLR register entry US 1387 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge - About Us (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) (opens another site)
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (The Roaming Civic) (opens another site)
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (Wikipedia) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (I-5) Lookout Article (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.