Fire lookout · Torrance County, New Mexico
Isleta Lookout
Also known as Isleta (Manzanita)
Aermotor 7x7 cab on a 50-foot steel tower on Isleta-Acoma Indian Reservation land in Torrance County; NHLR-registered 2022, build date unknown.
- 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. The NHLR places the site on the Isleta-Acoma Indian Reservation. No public visiting information was found.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerAermotor 7x7 observation-only cab on a 50-foot open steel tower; a residence cabin sits on site inside a fenced enclosureThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- Unknown
- Height
- 50 ft (15.2 m)
- Elevation
- 8,170 ft (2,490 m)
- Agency
- Isleta-Acoma Indian Agency (as listed by the NHLR)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Torrance County, New Mexico
- Coordinates
- 34.86772, −106.37018
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-nm-isleta
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 3.1 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
- 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 7, 2022 as US 1650, NM 49; nominated by Brad EellsSource: 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The National Historic Lookout Register lists Isleta Lookout, also called Isleta (Manzanita), in Torrance County, New Mexico.1,2 The register gives no construction date for the tower.1
The tower is an Aermotor 7x7 cab used for observation only, set on a 50-foot open steel tower.1 The site also has a residence cabin inside a fenced enclosure.1 The register lists the Isleta-Acoma Indian Agency as the administering office.1
Brad Eells nominated the lookout, and the register recorded it on July 7, 2022, as US 1650, NM 49.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's New Mexico list shows the tower as standing.2
The register places the site on the Isleta-Acoma Indian Reservation.1 I found no staffing history, no list of fires it watched and no visitor information, so anyone interested in the site should check with the reservation's tribal government before planning a trip.
- Isleta Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/isleta-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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 1650 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA New Mexico lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Isleta on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.