FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Osier Ridge Lookout

Osier Ridge's 1961 R-6 cab on the Clearwater National Forest has been continuously staffed since its first 1921 structure, with known lookouts dating to 1931.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up site; staffed seasonally, so it may be occupied by a Forest Service volunteer.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2026)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6The designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
6,115 ft (1,864 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.82722, −115.01528
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-osier-ridge

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 4.2 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

  1. 1921 BuiltLog cabin with a 30-foot pole platform tower, the first lookout at the site.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1931 StaffedMark E. Lawrence staffed a partial season.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1938 Replaced by a new structurePole tower (40-55 ft per different sources) with L-4 cab built.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. No record between 1938 and 1958
  5. 1958 StaffedA newlywed couple ran the lookout out of Kelly Creek Ranger Station, continuing into 1959.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1961 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1961 Replaced by a new structureCurrent 15x15 R-6 flat-top cab with catwalk built on a 40-41 ft timber tower.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1961 and 2009
  9. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, April 6, 2009.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2022 StaffedVolunteer Nate Raff staffed the tower in late summer; Idaho Fire Lookouts' authors subsequently joined the volunteer staff roster.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Osier Ridge has had a lookout watching over the Clearwater National Forest since 1921, when the Forest Service put up a log cabin and a 30-foot pole platform tower at the site.1,2 That first structure lasted until 1938, when it was replaced by a taller pole tower, about 40 to 55 feet depending on the source, topped with an L-4 cab.1,2 The tower standing today went up in 1961: a flat-roofed, 15-foot-square R-6 cab ringed by a catwalk, mounted on a timber tower given variously as 40 or 41 feet tall.1,2,3

Unlike many of its peers, Osier Ridge was never retired. It has stayed in active use, staffed through the fire season to this day.1,3 The known staffing record stretches back decades: Mark E. Lawrence worked a partial season there in 1931, and a married couple ran the lookout together in the summer of 1958 after applying out of the Kelly Creek Ranger Station, continuing into 1959.2 More recent volunteers have kept the tradition going, including staff who have described the thunderstorms and sunsets visible from the catwalk.2

The lookout was added to the National Historic Lookout Register in 2009.4 It remains a drive-up site on the Clearwater National Forest, reachable by road, and is staffed seasonally rather than available as a public rental — a visitor is as likely to find it occupied by a Forest Service volunteer as empty.

  1. Osier Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/osier-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Osier Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/osier-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Osier Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/osierridge.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  4. Osier Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/osier-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Osier Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Osier Ridge in 1920
Osier Ridge in 1920 (1920)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Janet McGee, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Osier Ridge in 1921
Osier Ridge in 1921 (1921)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Janet McGee, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Osier Ridge in the 1950's
Osier Ridge in the 1950's (1950)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Janet McGee, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Osier Ridge in 1997
Osier Ridge in 1997 (1997)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Janet McGee, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Osier Ridge in 2024
Osier Ridge in 2024 (2024)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Janet McGee, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Osier Ridge Lookout
Osier Ridge LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1961
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1921

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  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: design, height, staffing, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.