Joint effort saves a valuable fire mitigation resource, but can it get a veteran fire-spotter rehired?
By Ken Magri
After months of concern, the United States Forest Service reversed an October 2025 decision to permanently close the Colby Mountain Lookout Tower.
“Yes, I can absolutely confirm that we’ve made the decision to staff the Colby Mountain Lookout for the upcoming 2026 fire season,” said Jacqueline Buchanan, USFS Regional Forester for the Pacific Northwest, in a February 20 email to News & Review.
It demonstrates what can be accomplished when different influences come together towards a common goal. In this case, the accumulative efforts of community members, the local news media and a few politicians saved a vital fire mitigation resource for the region.
Colby Mountain’s 30-foot-high structure, located 13 miles north of Butte Meadows, watches over the Ishi Wilderness east of Red Bluff and northeast of Chico in Butte and Tehama Counties. Positioned 6,000 feet high in the Lassen National Forest, the lookout tower played an important role during the 2021 Dixie Fire and the 2024 Park Fire which burned along the Highway 32 corridor.
But will the Forest Service be rehiring Ken Jordan again, the community’s beloved lookout who manned the tower for 41 consecutive seasons? Jordan is widely admired for his fire-spotting skills and ridge-by-ridge knowledge of the region.
Last October, at the end of the 2025 season, Jordan was told his assignment at Colby Mountain was over. The tower was now considered permanently closed and designated for demolition.
But in this unprecedented era of California wildfires, why?
Jordan claims the decision was based on a false assertion that the tower was in disrepair. A Lassen National Forest administrator personally came out to Colby Mountain to tell Jordan it was “a piece of junk,” but he wouldn’t produce the official inspection report.
Jordan told the News & Review last November, “He was trying to sell me a bill of goods, it was crazy. They claimed it’s a money decision because of lack of maintenance, but there’s something else going on.”
A thorough inspection of the lookout tower completed just two months earlier would prove Jordan was right. But nobody could get their hands on an August 2025 report written by USFS inspector Abraham Avedikian.
An effort to save the tower begins
Jordan didn’t give up.
He had an expert, John Aronson, come to Colby Mountain and do a second inspection. He spoke to residents from nearby Butte Meadows, Jonesville, Forest Ranch and Cohasset, inspiring them to help save it somehow. “I didn’t call the press or anything,” said Jordan. He just talked to anyone who would listen.
That got Butte Meadows resident Laurie Bowers involved. Along with other locals, she went onto social media with a Facebook page to save the tower. People began sharing her posts. Local journalist Karla Larsson picked up the story, also posting on Facebook at “Butte County Fires, Accidents and Crimes.”
Bowers appeared on Chico’s Action News Now to advocate for saving the tower. KRCR News in Redding covered the closure. Chico’s Enterprise Record reported on it, as did the Oroville Mercury Register and the Sierra Daily News in Susanville.
“We weren’t really sure what to do next,” said Bowers. “I don’t have any connections at the Forest Service or know anything about who’s in charge of what, so I reached out to Doug’s office,” she said, referring to the late US Representative Doug LaMalfa, who passed away in early January. LaMalfa was known as a champion for rural causes.
“Kenny [Jordan] had lost his job, and the community was upset about it,” said Teri DuBose, La Malfa’s district field representative. After researching the closure and learning more about the community’s concern, DuBose took the issue to LaMalfa. He agreed to drive up to the Butte Meadows Mercantile and Resort in late October for a meeting with Jordan, Bowers and around 30 other community members.
While asking the congressman for help, the gathered group also asked what they could do. LaMalfa grabbed a sheet of paper, wrote out a petition seeking reconsideration of the closure and everyone signed on. He told them to start writing letters.
The Mercantile is well known as a gathering spot for locals. Owner Stacy Kelso turned it into a save-the-tower information hub. “We had a whole bunch of signature sheets and addresses for people to write,” said Kelso.
“People continued to send in their signatures,” said DuBose, “and I reached out to Rick [Hopson].”
Rick Hopson began as the Forest Supervisor for Lassen National Forest last May. DuBose said they worked together trying to find out, “if the tower was inspected and everything passed, why are they closing it?”
The News & Review got involved in November, emailing USFS administrators up the chain-of-command to inquire about Avedikian’s inspection report. We received a reply from Hopson’s superior, Regional Forester Buchanan, working in her new position for only two weeks. She promised to investigate the matter and “circle back” with an answer.
The next day Buchanan arranged to have the inspection report sent to News & Review. “That was a big help,” said Jordan, as it confirmed what he had been saying, that the lookout tower was in satisfactory condition.
Buchanan also confirmed through a separate statement that no decision to decommission the tower had been finalized.
“The Forest Supervisor is reviewing options for staffing the lookout next year and expects to make that decision around the start of the new year,” said the statement attributed to the Lassen Region 5 Media Group.
During this waiting period Jordan noticed that two friends at the Almanor Ranger District station remained quiet on the issue, not knowing how the decision would go. “They were really nervous about talking to me,” he said. “You could feel the tension in the office.”
But Bowers, Kelso and the community around Colby Mountain did not stop their efforts. They ramped up the letter-writing campaign, targeting Hopson and Buchanan with letters and media articles. Bowers also went to Oroville and requested support from the Butte County Board of Supervisors.
On January 17, 2026, the board members sent their own letter of opposition to closing the tower, signed by board’s chair Bill Connelly.
“In an area that has been devastated by multiple megafires, the Forest Service should be looking at ways of increasing public safety rather than reducing it,” stated the letter. “The Colby Mountain Fire Lookout provides a proven capability that complements—rather than replaces—modern fire detection technologies.”
In late January, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Butte County Board of Supervisors’ letter just as local media coverage began picking up again.
The closure gets reversed
Finally, on February 17, Rick Hopson announced the tower would reopen. “I made the decision to open Colby Mountain Lookout for this 2026 season after receiving requests from the public to consider continued staffing at that location,” he said in a late email to News & Review.
“Public engagement helped me make this decision,” said Hopson.
“Further, I recognized a need to engage more with our elected officials to discuss our fire detection and response capabilities,” he said. “I am grateful for the letter I received from the Butte County Board of Supervisors and the correspondence I received from community members.”
Buchanan agreed that the input provided by locals was “invaluable.”
Her email also mentioned the community’s importance in determining the tower’s future. “Lassen National Forest leadership will be actively engaging with local communities throughout this year to discuss fire prevention, detection and response capabilities.”
Buchanan stated, “Regarding veteran lookout Ken Jordan, the forest is working through their seasonal hiring process currently and will be making calls to seasonal hires as they do each year.”
But was that a commitment to hire?
Hopson also mentioned Jordan by name but made no promise about hiring him. “I understand why residents would be asking about him,” said Hopson. “While our public announcement didn’t go into specific staffing assignments, I can confirm that the lookout itself will be staffed.”
Jordan said he hasn’t been contacted yet but knows that seasonal hiring notices can sometimes come as late as May.
Neither administrator promised staffing the tower beyond 2026 but did mention ways that the Forest Service wants to work better with the community on “actionable strategies” that can “enhance public safety.”
While everyone who supported the effort is grateful for this victory, many questions remain, including whether Ken Jordan will get his lookout assignment back?
“The community isn’t just asking for it to be staffed — we’re asking for Kenny Jordan to staff it,” replied Bowers. “His experience, dedication, and deep relationship with this mountain and our community are critical to keeping us safe.”
Can the Colby Mountain community find ways to work with the Forest Service to extend the tower’s life? “It’s important to us that we get this right,” said Hopson, “and that means listening to the people we serve.”
Just as importantly, without Doug LaMalfa’s help will any of the current District One congressional candidates adopt the late congressman’s concern for supporting the tower and make it part of their campaign?
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