Watching the Wilds

Watching the Wilds is a short documentary film (roughly 15 minutes in length) about lookout towers used to spot and report wildfires in the Moshannon Forest District of Pennsylvania. Fire lookouts rose in popularity over a century ago and peaked in the 1950’s, with more than 10,000 towers scattered across the US. Today, only a fraction remain operational with states opting for newer technologies such as drones or planes to monitor for wildfires. Pennsylvania in particular has a long history of fire watchtowers, with several dating back to the early 1900’s still standing today. While the world has changed a lot over the last 100 years and the forests along with it, watchtowers are still one of the best tools available for those tasked with monitoring for wildfires. No one understands that more than the lookouts who man the 16 new towers built to protect the Pennsylvania forests.