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Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Birch Hill Lookout Site

Also known as Birch Ridge

Clearwater National Forest lookout site (Birch Ridge) with a 1932 pole L-4 tower, destroyed or removed in 1959; no source describes remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1959 (sources differ on the wording); no source describes remains

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a pole tower: 40 ft per register and Rex's page; 35 ft per 2016 Forest Service listThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,587 ft (1,703 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Clearwater National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.86840, −115.11436
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-birch-hill

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.1 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

  1. 1932 BuiltPole L-4 tower built; 40 ft per register and Rex's page, 35 ft per 2016 listSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1932 StaffedOnly known staffer listed: Mark E LawrenceSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1932 and 1959
  4. 1959 DestroyedRegister says removed; Rex's page, Idaho Fire Lookouts and the 2016 list say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1959 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 20, 2011 as US 822, ID 2Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Birch Ridge, also listed as the Birch Hill Lookout Site, stood in the Clearwater National Forest in Clearwater County, Idaho.1,2 It lay about 12 miles north-northeast of the Kelly Creek ranger station.2

The tower was a 40-foot pole L-4 tower built in 1932, according to the register and Rex's page.1,2 A 2016 Clearwater National Forest lookout list gives a 35-foot pole instead.3

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists one known staffer, Mark E Lawrence, for 1932, and no later staffing.4

The register says the tower was removed in 1959.1 Rex's page, Idaho Fire Lookouts and the 2016 list all say it was destroyed that year.2,4,3 None of them explains how it came down.1,2,4,3

The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register lists the site as US 822, ID 2, and dates its entry to January 20, 2011.1

The register says the U.S. Forest Service administers the site.1 No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the ridge today, or whether the site is open to the public.1,2,4,3

  1. Birch Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/birch-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Birch Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/id/birchridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, list compiled by Margaret Sand and Cindy Schacher, June 2016, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Birch Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/birch-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Birch Hill Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: county, type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: dates, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.