SUMMER 2024 | 7 Tell us about your involvement with the Catskill 3500 Club. You were the secretary for seventeen years and you are still a hike leader to this day. How does the club differ from the Adirondack 46ers? LR: I think the organization is very similar to the 46ers, perhaps on a much smaller scale. Like ours, it is all volunteer and made up of people who just love what they're doing. They really care about the mountains and enjoy hiking and giving back by doing whatever they can to improve them. I think it's a fantastic organization. The one big difference between the clubs is the 3500 Club leads hikes. I really enjoy being a hike leader. Although now I'm so busy with other volunteer work, I mostly lead hikes during the winter. I enjoy meeting new people. Sometimes we get critical about outsiders—I've gone there a few times myself—but for the most part I’ve met fantastic people and I'm happy to show them the trails and the mountains and it’s great to meet them again as volunteers. SR: Would leading hikes ever be something the 46ers would consider? LR: It's probably been talked about in the past, but it hasn't been talked about during my time as director, vice president, or president. The 46ers want to remain an all-volunteer organization without having to spend money on staff or facilities. We’re geared toward giving back with our trail crew work, our trailhead steward program, our outdoor skills workshop, our camper program, correspondence program, and our Adopt-a-Highway program. So, I'm not sure there is an advantage in providing guided hikes. We provide educational resources for someone who wants to get started on the hikes, but I don't know that we would benefit by growing the organization in this way when there are over 800 finishers per year. That would really expand our volunteer needs tremendously and, currently, we could use more help from volunteers. We’ve discussed hiring paid employees many times; however, we’re focused on using our member dues and donations strictly for the biggest return of good it can do for the mountains. We do pay for a web service now because one person cannot realistically open all the envelopes with member dues each year; growth has made it impossible. That was a big step forward for us. SR: Tell us about the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) and your involvement as the director of the New York State Chapter since 2014. LR: The FFLA is an international organization. It was founded in 1990 and involved researching current and past forest fire lookout sites, ground cabins and early forest fire detection methods. They have chapters across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Their work promotes the preservation of fire towers as well as the history of those towers. The NYS chapter is an all-volunteer group, which works with NYSDEC and NYS Parks and private owners to restore and maintain the fire towers and their history. Our chapter is busy with over 100 members, which I'm thrilled about. When I came on board, we had about 40 members. Currently, we hold agreements on 13 fire towers in the state with New York and we have restored several towers to date and manage steward programs at four towers. Last year we started a pilot steward program at the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower, which we're going to continue to do this year. So, we do a lot of different things all related to the preservation of fire towers and their history. SR: Tell us about the annual fire tower lighting ceremony? Do you attend every year? Is it something you help to coordinate? LR: The annual fire tower lighting ceremony began in the Catskills at Red Hill Fire Tower in 2014 as a suggestion from the coordinator, Doug Hamilton. I was at Balsam Lake the first year and it was wonderful—a fantastic way to connect with the local communities. Everyone gathers where there is a view of one of the fire towers and watches as the cabs light up from 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.! This year it will be held on Saturday, August 31. It reminds us of the reasons these towers were put there: to protect the local community, their homes, and the forest from fires. It was never intended to happen again after the first ceremony, so I suggested that we continue it with the FFLA and this year will mark its eleventh anniversary. When I think of the fires in Texas H
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