Reeds Peak Lookout Tower, New Mexico

Reeds Peak Lookout Tower is a metal fire tower on the Continental Divide, in the middle of the portion of the Gila National Forest known as the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. The Gila National Forest covers 3.3 million acres, and varies in altitude from 4,500 feet to 11,000 feet. Though much of it is forested, it is desert-like, too, and is often steep, crumbly, and desiccated. 750,000 acres of the forest are designated as the Gila Wilderness, which was the nation’s first official wilderness area. It was established by the urging and efforts of the naturalist and writer Aldo Leopold, who served as a forest ranger in the area for periods between 1909 and 1924, often spending weeks alone, with his horse. He was a founder of the Wilderness Society, which believed in the need to preserve places where the land is affected primarily by the forces of nature. A portion of the Gila Wilderness was renamed the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in his honor.