About Us
Barb Sullivan created this nifty logo to capture the spirit of this CougarPass.Org website. We might want different logos if we form a Cougar Pass Lookout local chapter of the FFLA or a Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association.
About Us
Disclaimer: This website and proposal were created entirely by public-spirited volunteers without any financial support or staff time from any government agency.
In February 2020, we asked Oregon Department of State Lands (which manages the Elliott State Forest), to look at this website and begin working with us to see how we might move forward to restore the Cougar Pass Lookout. The only substantive reply we received was:
"It looks like quite a few folks have dedicated significant time thinking about and planning a Cougar Pass Lookout restoration project. Because of the potential transfer of the Elliott to Oregon State University, the Department of State Lands is unable to dedicate time and resources to a potential project at this point in time."
As a result, we have spent substantially more time talking with DSL employees about the details of the disclaimer written above than we've been allowed to spend talking about how to restore the Cougar Pass lookout. This is the same sort of response Howard Verschoor describes in the History page. He remembers making a significant effort to restore the Cougar Pass lookout starting in 1999 and continuing through 2003. He reports, "We kept getting put off and put off, so eventually we gave up."
In the long run, if this project moves forward, it will necessarily be a partnership between volunteers who do most of the work and state government that owns and manages the Elliott State Forest. Exactly how this partnership will work is uncertain, partly because the project has multiple goals. One goal is the immediate preservation of the dilapidated Cougar Pass Lookout, and a broader goal is to create a Lookout Education Center that becomes a statewide heritage resource and tourist destination.
Another consideration is to avoid creating a brand new organization to manage this project. Our world has lots of competent existing organizations, so we want to fold this project into their pre-existing structures. Given that background, this page describes three mutually compatible ways that we have put in place to build the volunteer side of this partnership:
The Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA), which is an educational nonprofit 501 c(3) corporation.
The Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association that is part of the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, Inc., which is an educational nonprofit 501 c(3) corporation.
Sandbox Designs, an educational nonprofit, to produce detailed designs for the Cougar Pass Lookout Education Center.
The rest of this page describes all three approaches, and then lists who to contact if you have questions or want to become involved with the project.
-- Dave Sullivan and Bob Zybach
The logo for the Forest Fire Lookout Association.
The Forest Fire Lookout Association
We are working closely with the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA), and in particular with the Oregon Chapter of the FFLA lead by Howard Verschoor (PO Box 611, Lyons, OR 97307-1522). He has asked us to initially be listed as an FFLA Affiliate, but in the longer run, we expect to form a Friends of Elliot Forest Lookouts FFLA sub-chapter.
2020 Western Conference Meeting
Dave Sullivan will give a presentation about the Cougar Pass Lookout to the 2020 Western Conference Meeting of the FFLA at the Klamath Falls Fairgrounds on September 25-26th.
The FFLA's Mission
"The Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA), founded in 1990, is an organization involved in research of current and former forest fire lookout sites, ground cabins and early forest fire detection methods. It promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of Lookouts."
"The FFLA encourages efforts of public groups and others in the restoration of forest fire lookouts. Some lookout projects are undertaken by chapters of the organization itself. The FFLA's by-laws prohibit the lobbying for retaining lookout operator jobs and there is no political connection to any such groups that encourage these efforts. The membership is composed of lookout enthusiasts, hikers, conservationists, forest fire personnel, foresters, story writers, and members of the environmental community."
Ideas from other local FFLA Chapters
The FFLA has a super track record at restoring and managing fire lookout towers. As an example, Keith Argow, the National Chairman writes in the most recent Lookout Network (Volume 30, Number 2, of the quarterly publication of the Forest Fire Lookout Association):
"Boucher Hill (which is north of San Diego) appears to be among the most visited active lookouts in America. In 2019 they recorded 10,672 visits up the tower, with an additional several thousand people who looked at the interpretive displays on the new visitor platform at the base. On busy weekends and holidays, chapter members serve as docents to interpret the historic structure and control the flow of visitors to the top floor cab so as not to distract from the primary purpose of fire detection. ..."
An additional driving force for the San Diego-Riverside Chapter is restoring historic lookouts, and then staffing them. The recently organized Monterey Chapter in Southern California has focused on the restoration and staffing of Chews Ridge Lookout in the Los Padres National Forest with the goal of maintaining and possibly staffing the remote and spectacularly located Cone Peak Lookout to the north. Since May 26m Scott McClintock has recruited and trained 56 members of the Monterey Chapter.
The logo for the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project.
The Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association
We registered the Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association (CPLEA) as an assumed business name for the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, Inc. (ORWW). This allows us to fold the CPLEA within a larger pre-existing umbrella organization, and it allows any donations to the CPLEA to be fully tax deductible.
About the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project
Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project. Inc. (ORWW) is an educational, nonprofit 501 c(3) corporation based in Philomath, Oregon since December 1996. ORWW is funded by private businesses, landowners, individuals, associations, and foundations with an interest in the long-term use and scientific management of Oregon's natural and cultural resources. The goals and objectives of ORWW, a brief organizational history, and a list of current board members can be found at www.ORWW.org/Mission.htm.
Mission Statement
The primary mission of the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, Inc. is to assist Oregon students, teachers, residents, and resource managers in implementing computer technology, historical documentation, scientific reasoning, community consensus building, environmental enhancement projects, and long-term monitoring strategies to help make more informed decisions regarding local natural and cultural resources.
Donations
Anyone interested in making a donation to this project should send a check to: Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association, care of Dave Sullivan, 12875 Kings Valley Highway, Monmouth, OR 97361. All donations to the Cougar Pass Lookout Education Association are fully tax deductible.
The logo for Sandbox Designs.
Sandbox Designs
Sandbox Designs is the educational nonprofit that created all design sketches in this CougarPass.Org website. Open source design and standardization should dramatically lower the cost of building lookout towers.
About the Sandbox Designs
Sandbox Designs is a nonprofit educational corporation to promote the open source development of timber-framed tower buildings. You can learn more about Sandbox Designs at www.SandboxDesigns.Org. Sandbox Designs is willing to donate all of Dave Sullivan's time, but of course, if outside licensed engineers or architects need to be hired, that will need to be paid somehow.
People to contact about this project
With a fair amount of outside assistance and advice, two people have created the bulk of what you see in this website: Dave Sullivan and Bob Zybach. We want to get more people involved ... so if you have comments, suggestions or want to help -- get in touch with us.
Dave Sullivan, Ph.D.
Dave is shown here after successfully raising an entrance arch to his timberland.
Dave a fourth generation Oregonian, and he grew up in a family that liked to backpack in the 1950s and 60s. So as a kid, he visited a lot of fire towers when they were active and got to visit with the lonely folks who watched over Oregon's forests.
Dave is an emeritus Professor of Business from Oregon State University where he taught how to use computers effectively. He has spent the last ten years renovating historic homes and building a dream home for his wife, Barbara. Dave can be reached through drdavesullivan@gmail.com or by phoning 541-791-6470.
Dave's prior volunteer activities have included serving on the Corvallis School Board and the Oregon Small Woodlands Board of Directors, and he was the Polk County Small Woodlands tree farmer of the year in 1991. Dave is president of Sandbox Designs, the nonprofit organization which created the concept designs in this website.
Bob Zybach, Ph.D.
Rather than attempt to list all of Bob's credentials, we've decided to just build a link to his online Curriculum Vitae.