by Ira Spring (Author), Byron Fish (Author)

* History of 75 fire-protection lookouts * More than 200 photos from archival and personal collections * Selected access information Once the most advanced means of fire detection, the fire-protection lookout towers built and manned in the mid- to late-1900s in Washington state are now historic sites and an intrinsic part of the heritage of the Northwest and its people. Lookouts: Firewatchers of the Cascades and Olympics is a complete history of the lookouts and a tribute to the people who often endured challenging conditionsñfrom loneliness to forbidding weatherñwhile serving as firewatchers. Authors Ira Spring and Byron Fish paint a vivid picture of each lookout tower in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Mount Rainier National Park, the Olympics, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Wenatchee National Forest, and Okanogan National Forest, and provide inspirational personal anecdotes from the people who manned and worked to preserve these buildings. This edition includes appendixes that provide driving and hiking directions to selected lookouts, information on volunteer organizations active in preserving lookouts, and a historical registry of western Washington lookouts.

by Karen Signell (Author)

How does an intelligent wild bear manage life in captivity? This is the first novel about the real bear cub who survived a forest fire high in the New Mexican mountains to become the living representative of his namesake, Smokey Bear. Badly burned, alone and forlorn amidst the devastation after the fire, the cub is rescued by Game Warden Ray Bell. Smokey adapts to life in the home of Ray’s family in Santa Fe, cavorting with the household puppy and cuddling with the four-year-old daughter. Before the little male bear becomes big enough to be dangerous, he must leave his human family. He is flown across the country to spend the rest of his long life at Washington’s National Zoo. Authentic photographs and apt quotations enhance this heartwarming and bittersweet story, written for adults but with appeal for all ages.