FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Green Mountain Lookout

L-4 tower in Nez Perce NF on a 1930 cabin site; built 1956; emergency use since 1971; NHLR-registered 1997.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

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

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Wood
Built
1930
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
7,192 ft (2,192 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.77083, −115.07615
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-green-mountain-2

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 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. 1930 BuiltFirst structure on the site: a log cabin with a cupolaSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1930 and 1956
  3. 1956 BuiltCurrent 41-foot treated timber tower with L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
  4. No record between 1956 and 1971
  5. 1971 Last staffedSet to emergency status; NHLR says not regularly staffed since the early 1970sSources: idahofirelookouts.com, nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1971 and 1997
  7. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, August 25, 1997Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2006 RestoredSafety upgrade work was started.Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2020 StaffedTower staffed during a nearby fire, per Idaho Fire Lookouts visitSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  10. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Green Mountain sits in the Nez Perce National Forest, in Idaho County, Idaho.1,2 The first structure on the site was a log cabin with a cupola, built around 1930.1,2,3 The tower that stands there now was built in 1956. It is 41 feet of treated timber with an L-4 cab.1,4,5

Idaho Fire Lookouts dates the switch to emergency status to 1971.3 The National Historic Lookout Register says it has not been regularly staffed since the early 1970s, but the lookout is often used on an emergency basis because of the area's high fire frequency.1

The Forest Service history says the L-4 is maintained for emergency use.5 Firelookout.com says the tower serves emergency fire detection all summer long.4 The lookout was registered on the National Historic Lookout Register on August 25, 1997.1

Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the site as Drive-Up.3 When its writers visited in 2020, the tower was staffed because of a nearby fire.3 That was a single visit during a fire, so it does not show that the tower is open to visitors. The sources do not give a rental arrangement. Check with the Nez Perce National Forest before going, since the tower is kept for emergency use.

  1. Green Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/green-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Green Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (idaholookouts.weebly.com), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/green-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Green Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/green-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Green Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/greenmtnid.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. History of Forest Fire Lookouts on the Nez Perce National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259214 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Green Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Green Mtn. in 1951
Green Mtn. in 1951 (1951)Photo: the Nez Perce N.F. and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Green Mtn. in 1953
Green Mtn. in 1953 (1953)Photo: the Nez Perce N.F. and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Green Mtn. in 1996
Green Mtn. in 1996 (1996)Photo: the Nez Perce N.F. and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · 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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists 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
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, dates, photos, 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: photos, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, visiting details, 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.