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REFERENCES ON THE AMERICAN INDIAN
USE OF FIRE IN ECOSYSTEMS
Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D.
Sociologist and Social Historian
USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region
(References appended by William Reed, Boise NF and Sandra Morris, Region 1)
August 23, 1994
Evidence for the purposeful use of fire by American Indians (also termed Native
Americans or First People) in many ecosystems has been difficult to document and
substantiate. By the time that European explorers, fur traders, and settlers
arrived in many parts of North America, a number of native populations were on
the verge of collapse because of new diseases accidentally introduced and
wide-spread epidemics against which the Indians had no immunity. In addition,
warfare (with old enemies and new immigrants), new technologies (iron and
firearms), change of economy (to fur trading and sheep grazing), different food
sources (farming and federal handouts), and treaties (restricting or removing
Indians from traditional lands) all had severe negative consequences on native
cultures.
By the late 1800s, many native languages were becoming extinct and knowledge of
the "old" ways was dying. Only a handful of ethnographers and anthropologists
(many employed by the Smithsonian Institution and/or the American Bureau of
Ethnology) felt the need to record the Indian language and lifestyle before the
last of many tribes disappeared. Even fewer of these researchers asked
questions about the native peoples deliberately changing ecosystems. Yet there
is a growing body of literature (ethnobotany) about Indians using native plants
for food, medicine, and ceremonial uses, as well as plants/shrubs/trees for
food, clothing, shelter, and tools. In addition, there is some documentation of
tribes changing water flow (canals), practicing farming and grazing (sheep,
cattle, horses), and building structures. These and other purposeful changes to
"natural" ecosystems remains to be documented in a future paper.
Accounts by explorers many times noted huge burned over areas with many dead
trees "littering" the landscape, without knowledge of whether the fires were
natural or Indian caused. Written accounts by early settlers and fur trappers
remain incomplete although many noted that there were open prairies with tall
grasses in almost every river basin. The abundance of rich prairie land (ready
for the plow without having to clear the land) was one of the primary reasons
for heading West.
At least through the turn of the 20th century, settlers often used fire to clear
the land of brush and trees in order to make new farm land for crops and new
pastures for grazing animals (the North American variation of slash and burn
technology), while others deliberately burned to reduce the threat of major
fires (the so-called "light burning" technique). Also, since the uplands were
still in government ownership, many settlers adjacent to the public domain often
either deliberately set fires or allowed fire to "run free." Also, sheep and
cattle owners, as well as shepherds and cowboys, often set the alpine meadows
and prairies on fire at the end of the grazing season to burn the dried grasses,
reduce brush, and kill young trees, as well as encourage the growth of new
grasses for the following spring and summer grazing season.
Generally, the American Indians burned parts of the ecosystems in which they
lived to promote a diversity of habitats, especially increasing the "edge
effect," which gave the Indians greater security and stability to their lives.
Their use of fire was different from white settlers who burned to create greater
uniformity in ecosystems. In general, during the pre-settlement period, Indian
caused fires are often interpreted as either purposeful or accidental (campfires
left or escaped smoke signalling).
Most primary or secondary accounts relate to the purposeful burning to establish
or keep "mosaics, resource diversity, environmental stability, predictability,
and the maintenance of ecotones (Lewis 1985: 77)." These purposeful fires by
almost every American Indian tribe differ from natural fires by the seasonality
of burning, frequency of burning certain areas, and the intensity of the fire
(Lewis 1985). Indian tribes tended to burn during different times of the year,
sometimes in the early spring or summer, while at other times in the fall after
the hunt and berry picking season was over. Hardly ever did they purposely burn
during mid-summer and early fall when the forests were most vulnerable to
catastrophic wildfire. Often the Indians burned selected areas yearly, every
other year, or intervals as long as five years. Steve Pyne put much of the
Indian use of fire into perspective as he reported that:
the modification of the American continent by fire at the
hands of Asian immigrants was the result of repeated, con-
trolled, surface burns on a cycle of one to three years, bro-
ken by occasional holocausts from escape fires and periodic
conflagrations during times of drought. Even under ideal
circumstances, accidents occurred: signal fires escaped and
campfires spread, with the result that valuable range was
untimely scorched, buffalo driven away, and villages threat-
ened. Burned corpses on the prairie were far from rare. So
extensive were the cumulative effects of these modifications
that it may be said that the general consequence of the
Indian occupation of the New World was to replace forested
land with grassland or savannah, or, where the forest
persisted, to open it up and free it from underbrush. Most
of the impenetrable woods encountered by explorers were in
bogs or swamps from which fire was excluded; naturally
drained landscape was nearly everywhere burned. Conversely,
almost wherever the European went, forests followed. The
Great American Forest may be more a product of settlement
than a victim of it (Pyne 1982: 79-80).
What follows is list of documented reasons for one change to ecosystems - that
of intentional burning. This activity has greatly modified landscapes across
the continent in many subtle ways that have often been interpreted as "natural"
by the early explorers, trappers, and settlers. Even many research scientists
who study presettlement forest and savannah fire evidence tend to attribute most
prehistoric fires as being caused by lightning (natural) rather than humans.
This problem arises because there was no systematic record keeping of these fire
events. Thus the interaction of people and ecosystems is down played or
ignored, which often leads to the conclusion that people are a problem in
"natural" ecosystems rather than the primary force in their development. There
are at least 11 documented reasons for American Indian ecosystem burning:
Hunting - Burning of large areas to divert big game (deer, elk, bison) into
small unburned areas for easier hunting and provide open prairies/meadows
(rather than brush and tall trees) where animals (including ducks and
geese) like to dine on fresh, new grass sprouts. Fire was also used to
drive game into impoundments, narrow chutes, into rivers or lakes, or over
cliffs where the animals could be killed. Some tribes used a surrounding
fire to drive rabbits into small areas where they could be easily killed
for food. The Seminoles even practiced hunting alligators with fire.
Crop management - Burning used to harvest crops, especially tarweed, yucca,
greens, and grass seed collection. In addition, fire was used to prevent
abandoned fields from growing over and to clear areas for planting corn and
tobacco. One report of fire being used to bring rain (overcome drought).
Clearing ground of grass and brush to facilitate the gathering of acorns.
Fire used to roast mescal and obtain salt from grasses.
Improve growth and yields - Fire used to improve grass for big game grazing
(deer, elk, antelope, bison, and later horses), camas reproduction, seed
plants, berry plants (especially raspberries, strawberries, and huckleber-
ries), and tobacco.
Fireproof areas - Some indications that fire was used to protect certain
medicine plants by clearing an area around the plants, as well as to fire-
proof areas, especially around settlements, from destructive wildfires.
Fire was also used to keep prairies open from encroaching shrubs and trees.
Insect collection - Using a "fire surround" to collect & roast crickets,
grasshoppers, pandora moths in pine forests, and collect honey from bees.
Pest management - Burning used to reduce insects (black flies & mosquitos)
and rodents, as well as kill mistletoe that invaded mesquite and oak trees.
Warfare - Use of fire to deprive the enemy of hiding places in tall grasses
and underbrush in the woods for defense, as well as using fire for
offensive reasons.
Economic Extortion - Some tribes also used fire for a "scorched-earth"
policy to deprive settlers and fur traders from easy access to big game and
thus benefitting from being "middlemen" in supplying pemmican and jerky.
Clearing areas for travel - Fires started to clear trails for travel
through areas that were overgrown with grass or brush. Fire helped with
providing better visibility through forests and brush lands.
Felling trees - Felling trees by boring two intersecting holes with hot
charcoal dropped in one hole, smoke exiting from the other. Another way
was to simply kill the tree at the base by surrounding it with fire. Fire
also used to kill trees for dry kindling (willows) and firewood (aspen).
Clearing Riparian Areas - Fire used to clear brush from riparian areas and
marshes for new grasses and tree sprouts (to benefit beaver, muskrats,
moose, and waterfowl). REFERENCES
Abbot, Henry Larcom
1857 "Report...Upon Explorations for a Railroad Route, from the Sacramento
Valley to the Columbia River, Made by Lieut. R. [Robert] S. [Stockton]
Williamson...Assisted by Lieut. Henry L. Abbot...1855." Pp. 1-134 Part
I - General Report in Vol. 6. Reports of Explorations and Surveys to
Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from
the Mississi- ppi River to the Pacific Ocean.... Washington, DC: 33rd
Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Executive Document 78. Reprinted as
Appendix B (Pp. 139-238) in Bert and Margie Webber's Railroading in
Southern Oregon and the Founding of Medford. Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon
Press. 1985. Mentions Indian fires on p. 60 north of Ft. Reading
(Redding) along the Pit (Pitt) River, CA, and on p. 73 along the upper
Deschutes River of central OR.
Agee, James K.
1990 "The Historical Role of Fire in Pacific Northwest Forests." Pp. 25-38
in John D. Walstad, Steven R. Radosevich, and David V. Sandberg (eds.)
Natural and Prescribed Fire in Pacific Northwest Forests. Corvallis,
OR: Oregon State University Press. Brief mention.
1993 Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests. Covelo, CA: Island Press.
493 pages. Numerous mentions of Indian use of fire on pages 54-58,
106-207 (western hemlock forests), 354-357 & 361 (oak forests), and
372-374 (juniper forests in eastern Oregon).
1994 "Fire and Weather Disturbances in Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Eastern
Cascades." General Technical Report PNW-GTR-320. Portland, OR: USDA
Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Several mentions of
Indian burning.
Aikens, C. Melvin (ed.)
1975 Archaeological Studies in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. University of
Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 8. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.
Brief mention citing David Douglas in the 1820's (see below).
Anderson, Kling L.
1965 "Fire Ecology--Some Kansas Prairie Forbs." Pp. 152-159 in Proceedings:
Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference; March 18-19, 1965. No. 4.
Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Mention of Indian
burning.
Applegate, Jesse
1930 "Recollections of My Boyhood." Pp. 85-218 in Maude A. Rucker (ed.) The
Oregon Trail. New York City, NY: Walter Neale. Mentions burning for
seed gathering in western Oregon.
Arno, Stephen F.
1980 "Forest Fire History in the Northern Rockies." Journal of Forestry,
Vol. 78, #8 (Aug): 460-465. Several mentions on pages 462 & 465.
1985 "Ecological Effects and Management Implications of Indian Fires." Pp.
81-86 in James E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators) Proceedings--
Symposium and Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Montana, November
15-18, 1983. General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest
Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Arthur, George W.
1975a An Introduction to the Ecology of Early Historic Communal Bison Hunting
Among the Northern Plains Indians. Archaeological Survey of Canada
Paper No. 37. Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man.
1975b An Introduction to the Ecology of Early Historic Bison Hunting Among the
Northern Plains Indians. Ph.D. dissertation. Calgary, Alberta: Univer-
sity of Calgary.
Aschmann, Homer
1959 "The Evolution of a Wild Landscape and Its Persistence in Southern
California." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol.
49, #3 Part 2 (Sept): 34-56. Plus comment by Robert W. Richardson on
page 57 re: Indian use of fire. Aschmann notes fire in chaparral and
fires to promote growth of grasses and herbs.
1977 "Aboriginal Use of Fire." Pp. 132-141 in Environmental Consequences of
Fire and Fuel Management in Mediterranean Ecosystems: Proceedings of
the Symposium. General Technical Report WO-03. Washington, DC: USDA
Forest Service.
Atzet, Thomas and D.L. Wheeler
1982 "Historical and Ecological Perspectives on Fire Activity in the Klamath
Geological Province of the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests."
Publication R-6-Range-10. Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service, Pacific
Northwest Region.
Ayres, Horace B.
1900a "The Flathead Forest Reserve." Pp. 245-316 in Twentieth Annual Report
[1898-99] of the United States Geological Survey - Part V: Forest
Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey. Escaped Indian fire
and fires started by miners on page 300.
1900b "Lewis and Clarke [sic] Forest Reserve, Montana." Pp. 27-80 in Twenty-
First Annual Report [1899-1900] of the United States Geological Survey -
Part V: Forest Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey.
Brief mentions on pages 48 and 72.
Bahre, Conrad Joseph
1985 "Wildfire in Southeastern Arizona Between 1859 and 1890." Desert
Plants, Vol. 7, #4: 190-194.
1991 A Legacy of Change: Historic Human Impact on Vegetation of the Arizona
Borderlands. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. Especially
Chapter 6 "Fire."
Barrett, Stephen W.
1980 "Indians and Fire." Western Wildlands, Vol. 6, #3 (Spring): 17-21.
1981a "Indian Fires in the Pre-Settlement Forests of Western Montana." Pp.
35-41 in Marvin A. Stokes and John H. Dieterich (technical coordinators)
Proceedings of the Fire History Workshop, October 20-24, 1980, Tuscon,
Arizona. General Technical Report RM-81. Fort Collins, CO: USDA
Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
1981b "Relationship of Indian-Caused Fires to the Ecology of Western Mon-
tana." Unpublished MS thesis. Missoula, MT: University of Montana.
198 pages.
Barrett, Stephen W. and Stephen F. Arno
1982 "Indian Fires as an Ecological Influence in the Northern Rockies."
Journal of Forestry, Vol. 80, #10 (Oct): 647-651.
Bean, Lowell John
1972 Mukat's People. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Notes
grass burning by the Cahuilla Tribe.
Bean, Lowell John and Harry W. Lawton
1973 "Some Explanations for the Rise of Cultural Complexity in Native
California with Comments on Proto-Agriculture and Agriculture." Pp.
V-XLVII in Lowell John Bean (ed.) Patterns of Indian Burning in
California: Ecology and Ethnohistory. Ballena Anthropological Papers
Vol. 1. Ramona, CA: Ballena Press. Introductory essay on southern CA
Indian fires to the classic Henry T. Lewis monograph.
Biswell, Harold Hubert
1967 "Forest Fire in Perspective." Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology
Conference, November 9-10, 1967. California Number: 42-63. Tallahas-
see, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Fire use by Indians and
settlers.
1989 Prescribed Burning in California Wildlands Vegetation Management.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Especially Chapter 2
"Fires Set by Lightning and by Indians" (Pp. 38-60).
Blackburn, Thomas C. and Kat Anderson (eds.)
1993 Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians.
Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press. Several chapters on Indian use of fire,
one by Henry T. Lewis as well as his final "In Retrospect."
Boag, Peter G.
1992 Settlement Culture in Ninteenth-Century [Calapooia Valley] Oregon.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Especially Chapter 1
"Valley of the Long Grasses."
Booth, Douglas E.
1994 Valuing Nature: The Decline and Preservation of Old-Growth Forests.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Especially Chapter 3
"Aboriginal View of Nature and Old-Growth Forests."
Bork, Joyce L.
1985 "Fire History in Three Vegetation Types on the Eastern Side of the
Oregon Cascades." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Corvallis, OR:
Oregon State University. 94 pages.
Botkin, Daniel B.
1990 Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. New
York, NY: Oxford University Press.
1992 "A Natural Myth." Nature Conservancy, Vol. 42, #3 (May/June): 38.
Brief mention.
Bourdeau, Alex
1990 "The Ridge Trail: A Forest Service Maintained Resource Procurement
Route on the Wind River Ranger District of the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest." Paper presented at the 1990 Northwest Anthropological
Conference. 11 pages.
Boyd, Robert T.
1986 "Strategies of Indian Burning in the Willamette Valley." Canadian
Journal of Anthropology/Revue Canadienne d'Anthropologie, Vol. 5, #1
(Fall): 65-86.
Bromley, Stanley W.
1935 "The Original Forest Types of Southern New England." Ecological
Monographs, Vol. 5, #1 (Jan): 61-89.
Brown, Arthur A. and Kenneth P. Davis
1973 Forest Fire: Control and Use. 2nd edition. New York, NY: McGraw-
Hill Book Company. They report on page 16 "It is known that Indians at
times set fires...It is at least a fair assumption that no habitual or
systematic burning was carried out by the Indians."
Brown, Dee Alexander
1971 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston. Brief mention of burning.
Burcham, Lee T.
1974 "Fire and Chaparral Before European Settlement." Pp. 101-120 in Rosen-
thal and Murry (eds.) Symposium on Living with the Chaparral: Proceed-
ings March 30-31, 1973. Riverside, CA: University of California Press.
Burke, Constance J.
1979 "Historic Fires in the Central Western Cascades, Oregon." Unpublished
MS thesis. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University. See Chapter IV.
Burns, Robert
1973 "Cultural Change, Resource Use and the Forest Landscape: The Case of
the Willamette National Forest." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.
Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, Department of Geography. Mentions
Indian use of fire on pages 67-68.
Butzer, Karl W.
1990 "The Indian Legacy in the American Landscape." Pp. 27-50 in Michael P.
Conzen (ed.) The Making of the American Landscape. Boston, MA: Unwin
Hyman.
1992 "The Americas Before and After 1492: An Introduction to Current Geo-
graphical Research." Annals of the American Geographers, Vol. 82, #3:
345-368.
Campbell, J.J.N.; D.D. Taylor; M.E. Medley; and A.C. Risk
1991 "Floristic and Historical Evidence of Fire-Maintained, Grassy Pine-Oak
Barriers Before Settlement in Southeastern Kentucky." Pp. 359-375 in
Stephen C. Nodvin and Thomas A. Waldrop (eds.) Fire and the Environ-
ment: Ecological and Cultural Perspectives, Proceedings of an Inter-
national Symposium, Knoxville, Tennessee,(March 20-24, 1990. General
Technical Report SE-69. Asheville, NC: USDA Forest Service, Southeast-
ern Forest Experiment Station. Mentions fire use by Indians on pages
369-370.
Capoeman, Pauline K. (ed.)
1990 Land of the Quinault. Introduction by Joe DeLaCruz. Taholah, WA:
Quinault Indian Nation. 315 pages. American Indian perspective on the
history of the Olympic Peninsula.
Castetter, Edward P. and Willis H. Bell
1951 Yuman Indian Agriculture: Primitive Subsistence on the Lower Colorado
and Gila Rivers. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
Notes burning of fields prior to planting by Yuman Indians, burning by
Cocopa and Mohave Tribes in tule areas to flush rabbits, and burning by
Yumans to concentrate prey especially rabbits.
Chadwick, Douglas H.
1993 "The American Prairie: Roots of the Sky." National Geographic, Vol.
184, #4 (Oct): 90-119. Brief mention of Indians burning prairies pages
113 and 116.
Coman, Warren E.
1911 "Did the Indian Protect the Forest?" Pacific Monthly, Vol. 26, #3
(Sept): 300-306. Indian use of fire on pages 300-301.
Cooper, Charles F.
1960 "Changes in Vegetation, Structure, and Growth of Southwestern Pine
Forests Since White Settlement." Ecological Monographs, Vol. 30, #2
(Apr): 129-164.
Cornutt, John M.
1971 Cow Creek Valley [Oregon] Memories: Riddle Pioneers Remembered in John
M. Cornutt's Autobiography. Eugene, OR: Industrial Publishing Co.
Mentions burning valley, keeping streams open, and tarweed seeds.
Coville, Frederick V.
1898 Forest Growth and Sheep Grazing in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon.
USDA Division of Forestry Bulletin No. 15. Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O.
Cronon, William
1983 Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New
England. New York City, NY: Hill and Wang.
Davies, John
1980 Douglas of the Forests: The North America Journals of David Douglas.
Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. Botanical collection in
Pacific Northwest 1824-1827. Notes Indian burning of prairies in the
Willamette Valley of Oregon. Douglas-fir tree named after him.
Day, Gordon M.
1953 "The Indian as an Ecological Factor in the Northeastern Forests."
Ecology, Vol. 34, #2 (Apr): 329-346. New England and New York areas
1580-1800.
Denevan, William M.
1992 "The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492." Annals of
the American Geographers, Vol. 82, #3: 369-385. See the section on
"Vegetation" pages 371-375.
Dennis, John G.
1985 "Role of Indian Burning in Wilderness Fire Planning." Pp. 296-298 in
James E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators) Proceedings-- Symposium
and Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Montana, November 15-18,
1983. General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest
Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Devens, Carol
1983 "Indian Forest Use." Pp. 308-311 in Richard C. Davis (ed.) Encyclopedia
of American Forest and Conservation History. Vol. 1. New York, NY:
Macmillan Publishing Company. Especially page 311 which briefly
recounts Indian use of fire.
DeVivo, Michael S.
1991 "Indian Use of Fire and Land Clearance in the Southern Appalachians."
Pp. 306-310 in Stephen C. Nodvin and Thomas A. Waldrop (eds.) Fire and
the Environment: Ecological and Cultural Perspectives, Proceedings of
an International Symposium, Knoxville, Tennessee, March 20-24, 1990.
General Technical Report SE-69. Asheville, NC: USDA Forest Service,
Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. Burning by Cherokee Tribe.
DeVoto, Bernhard (ed.)
1953 The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Dieterich, John H. and Alden R. Hibbert
1990 "Fire History in a Small Ponderosa Pine Stand Surrounded by Chaparral
[in Central Arizona]." Pp. 168-173 in Jay S. Krannes (technical
coordinator) Effects of Fire Management of Southwestern Natural
Resources: Proceedings of the Symposium November 14-17, 1988, Tuscon,
AZ. General Technical Report RM-191. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest
Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Several
mentions of Indian burning.
Dixon, Roland Burrage
1905 "The Northern Maidu." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural
History, New York, Vol 17, #3: 119-346 Dobyns, Henry E.
1981 From Fire to Flood: Historic Human Destruction of Sonoran Desert
Riverine Oases. Anthropology Papers No. 20. Socorro, NM: Ballena
Press.
Doolittle, William E.
1992 "Agriculture in North America on the Eve of Contact: A Reassessment."
Annals of the American Geographers, Vol. 82, #3: 386-401. See the
section "Slash-and-Burn Shifting Cultivation?" pages 392-93.
Dorney, Cheryl H. and John R. Dorney
1989 "An Unusual Oak Savanna in Northeastern Wisconsin: The Effect of
Indian-Caused Fire." American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 122, #1:
103-113.
Down, Robert Horace
1926 A History of the Silverton Country [Marion County, Oregon]. Portland,
OR: The Berncliff Press. Brief mention of the use of surround fires in
mid-Willamette prairie grass to hunt game animals.
Downs, James F.
1966 "The Significance of Environmental Manipulation in the Great Basin
Cultural Development." Pp. 39-56 in Warren d'Azevedo (ed.) The Current
Status of Anthropological Research in the Great Basin: 1964. Technical
Series S-H, Social Science and Humanities Publications No. 1. Reno,
NV: Desert Research Institute.
Driver, Harold E.
1937 "Culture Element Distributions: VI, Southern Sierra Nevada."
University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 1, #2: 53-154.
1938 "Culture Element Distributions: X, Northwest California." University
of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 1 #6: 297-434.
Drucker, Philip
1937 "Culture Element Distributions: V, Southern California." University of
California Anthropological Records, Vol. 1, #1: 1-52. Chia burned for
plant improvement by Mountain Cahuilla, Cupeno, Northern and Southern
Diegueno Tribes.
1939 "The Tolowa [NW California - Smith River Area] and Their Southwest
Oregon Kin." University of California Publications in American
Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 36: 221-300. On page 233 author notes
Tolowa Tribe burning.
Duke, Philip G.
1985 "The Pelican Lake Phase in the Crowsnest Pass [Rockies on BC and Alberta
border]: A Locational Analysis." Archaeology of Montana, Vol. 26, #1:
1-35. Brief mention of Indian prairie fires on pages 10-11.
Eastman, D.
1978 "Prescribed Burning for Wildlife Habitat Management in British Colum-
bia." Pp. 103-111 in Dennis E. Dube (compiler) Fire Ecology in Resource
Management: Workshop Proceedings, December 6-7, 1977. Information
Report NOR-X-210. Edmonton, Alberta: Environment Canada, Canadian
Forestry Service, Northern Forest Research Centre. Especially page 105.
Elliott, Thompson Coit (ed.)
1910 "The Peter Skene Ogden Journals." Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 11,
#2 (June): 201-222. Describes on page 205 Indian using fire against the
Hudson's Bay Co. trapping party in north-central Oregon in 1826.
Fahnestock, George R. and James K. Agee
1983 "Biomass Consumption and Smoke Production by Prehistoric and Modern
Forest Fires in Western Washington." Journal of Forestry, Vol. 81, #10
(Oct): 653-657. Mentions burning for huckleberries. Farber, Alfred
1979 "Archaeological Data Recovery at Site CA-NEV-318, Nevada County Cali-
fornia." Report on file. Nevada City, CA: Tahoe National Forest.
Filloon, Ray M.
1952 "Huckleberry Pilgrimage." Pacific Discovery, May-June: 4-13. Brief
mention of Indian burning to make meadows on the Gifford Pinchot NF
around Mt. Adams.
Flores, Dan
1992 "The Long Shadow of the Buffalo: Animals that for 90 Centuries had
Seemed as Numerous as the Stars Disappeared from the Texas Plains by
1878." Texas Parks & Wildlife, Vol. 50, #6 (June): 7-10. Brief mention
of Indian burning of prairies.
Forman, Richard T.T. and Emily W.B. Russell
1983 "Commentary: Evaluation of Historical Data to Ecology." Bulletin of
the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 64, #1 (Mar): 5-7. Notes that
many writers rely on secondary accounts and writers tend to generalize
statements rather than go into specifics such as which tribes, where
events occurred, and when. They give an example of fire use by Indians.
Fritz, Emanuel
1931 "The Role of Fire in the Redwood Region." Journal of Forestry, Vol. 29,
#6 (Oct): 939-950. Discussion of Indian use of fire on pages 939-940.
Fuller, Margaret
1991 Forest Fires: An Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, Management,
Firefighting, and Prevention. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Mentions on pages 167 and 186-188 ("History of Fire Policy" section).
Gabriel, H.W.
1976 "Wilderness Ecology: The Danaher Creek Drainage. Bob Marshall Wilder-
ness, Montana." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Missoula, MT: Univer-
sity of Montana.
Gibson, James R.
1985 Farming the Frontier: The Agricultural Opening of the Oregon Country
1786-1846. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. Discussion on
pages 128-129 which mentions fire use in the Willamette Valley of Oregon
by Kalapuya Tribe to hunt deer by encircling fires, gather grasshoppers,
wild honey, sunflower seeds, tarweed (wild wheat), and sighting of
enemies.
Gifford, Edward W.
1931 "The Kamia of Imperial Valley [CA]." Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 97. 94 pages. Notes burning of brush along sloughs to flush
rabbits.
Graber, David M.
1986 "The Evolution of National Park Service Fire Policy." Fire Management
Notes, Vol. 46, #4: 19-25.
Graves, Henry Solon
1899 "Black Hills Forest Reserve." Pp. 67-164 in Nineteenth Annual Report
[1897-98] of the United States Geological Survey - Part V: Forest
Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey. Brief mention on
page 83.
Gruell, George E.
1983 Fire and Vegetative Trends in the Northern Rockies: Interpretations
from 1871-1982 Photographs. General Technical Report INT-158. Ogden
UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station. 117 pages. Numerous mentions of Indian burning.
Gruell, George E. (continued)
1985a "Fire on the Early Western Landscape: An Annotated Record of Wildland
Fires 1776-1900." Northwest Science, Vol. 59, #2 (May): 97-107.
References 145 historical accounts by 44 observers, with an extensive
bibliography.
1985b "Indian Fires in the Interior West: A Widespread Influence." Pp. 68-74
in James E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators) Proceedings--
Symposium and Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Montana, November
15-18, 1983. General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest
Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Gruell, George E.; Wyman C. Schmidt; Stephen F. Arno; and William J. Reich
1982 "Seventy Years of Vegetative Change in a Managed Ponderosa Pine Forest
in Western Montana - Implications for Resource Management." General
Technical Report INT-130. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Inter-
mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 42 pages. Mention of
Indian burning on page 7.
Habeck, James R.
1961 "The Original Vegetation of the Mid-Willamette Valley, Oregon." North-
west Science, Vol. 35, #2 (May): 5-77. Mentions the Kalaypuya Tribe
burning the prairies.
1970 Fire Ecology Investigations in Glacier National Park. Missoula, MT:
University of Montana, Department of Botany.
1976 "Forests, Fuels, Fire in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho."
Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, October 8,9,10,
1974, No. 14: 305-354. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station.
Mentions Indian burning.
Hammett, Julia E.
1992 "The Shapes of Adaptation: Historical Ecology of Anthropogenic Land-
scapes in the Southeastern United States." Landscape Ecology, Vol. 7,
#2 (July): 121-135. See especially section 4 "Fire Ecology, Distur-
bance, and Anthropogenic Landscapes" pp. 128-131.
Hannon, Nan and Richard K. Olmo (eds.)
1990 Living with the Land: The Indians of Southwest Oregon - Proceedings of
the 1989 Symposium on the Prehistory of Southwest Oregon. Medford, OR:
Southern Oregon Historical Society. 153 pages. Numerous mentions and
article by Henry T. Lewis (see reference under his name).
Harrington, John Peabody
1932 "Tobacco Among the Karuk Indians of [Northern] California." Bureau of
American Ethnology Bulletin 94. 284 pages. Mentions fire use by the
Karok Tribe.
1942 "Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Ethnographic Field Notes." Ms at the
Office of Anthropology Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C. Quoted in Stephen Dow Beckham, Rick Minor, and Kathryn Anne
Toepel's Cultural Resource Overview of the Eugene BLM District, West-
Central Oregon. Report No. 4 to the BLM. Eugene, OR: Heritage
Research Associates.
1943 "Culture Element Distributions: XIX, Central California Coast."
University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 7, #1: 1-46.
Notes fires used by the Fernadeno Tribe to drive rabbits and fire used
by the Emigdiano Chumash and Kitanemuck Serrano Tribes to drive antelope
into enclosures.
Hart, Jeff
1976 Montana - Native Plants and Early Peoples. Bozeman, MT: Artcraft
Printers for the Montana Historical Society. Heinselman, Miron L.
1973 "Fire in the Virgin Forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minne-
sota." Quaternary Research, Vol. 3, #3 (Oct): 329-382.
Helfrich, Prince
1961 "Coming of the Indians [in the Fall to the Willamette Valley of Western
Oregon]." Newspaper column dated July 14, 1961. Eugene, OR: Eugene
Register Guard. Mentions burning the valleys and foothills in the fall
to create easier access and to increase spring and summer forage for
horses and big game.
Hendee, John C.; George H. Stankey; and Robert C. Lucas
1978 Wilderness Management. USDA Forest Service Miscellaneous Publication
No. 1365. Washington, D.C.: U.S.G.P.O. Chapter 12 "Fire in Wilderness
Ecosystems."
Higgins, Kenneth F.
1986 Interpretation and Compendium of Historical Fire Accounts in the
Northern Great Plains. Resource Publication 161. Washington, DC: USDI
Fish and Wildlife Service. 39 pages.
Hough, Walter
1926 Fire as an Agent in Human Culture. United States National Museum
Bulletin 139. Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O. 270 pages. Covers U.S. and
other countries. Pp. 58-82 concentrates on Indian use of fire for
signalling, hunting, agriculture, and war. Other sections talk about
hearth fires, fire making, fire tools, food preparation, etc.
Houston, Douglas B.
1973 "Wildfires in Northern Yellowstone National Park." Ecology, Vol. 54, #5
(Late Summer): 1111-1117. Discussion of Indian use of fire pp. 1114-15.
Howe, George E.
1974 "The Evolutionary Role of Wildfire in the Northern Rockies and Implica-
tions for Resource Managers." Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology
Conference, No. 14: 317-410. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research
Station.
Hughes, J. Donald
1977 American Indian in Colorado. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co. Brief
mention.
1983 American Indian Ecology. El Paso, TX: University of Texas at El Paso.
Several mentions of Indian burning.
Humphrey, Robert R.
1963 "The Role of Fire in the Desert and Desert Grassland Areas of Arizona."
Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, March 14-15, 1963,
Number 2: 44-61. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Fire
use by Indians and settlers.
Hungry Wolf, Adolf and Beverly Hungry Wolf
1989 Indian Tribes of the Northern Rockies. Canada: Hignell Printing Ltd.
Hunn, Eugene S. with James Selam and Family
1990 Nch'i-Wana, "The Big River": Mid-Columbia Indians and Their Land.
Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. 378 pages. Mentions
Indian use of fire on pages 130-132.
Hurt, R. Douglas
1987 Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present. Lawrence,
KS: University Press of Kansas.
Jack, John G.
1900 "Pikes Peak, Plum Creek, and South Platte Reserves." Pp. 39-115 in
Twentieth Annual Report [1898-99] of the United States Geological Survey
- Part V: Forest Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey.
Brief mention on page 69 in the Pikes Peak Forest Reserve.
Jackson, A.S.
1965 "Wildfires in the Great Plains Grasslands." Proceedings, Tall Timbers
Fire Ecology Conference, March 18-19, 1963, Number 4: 241-259. Talla-
hassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station. Fire use by Indians and
settlers.
Jepson, Willis Linn
1921 "The Fire-Type Forest of the Sierra Nevada." The Intercollegiate
Forestry Club Annual, Vol. 1, #1: 7-10.
1923 The Trees of California. Berkeley, CA: Associated Students Store
University of California. Notes on pages 155-57 and 167 the Indian use
of fire in the ecology of Sierra Nevada forest types.
Johannessen, Carl L.; William A. Davenport; Artimus Millet; and Steven
McWilliams
1971 "The Vegetation of the Willamette Valley [Oregon]." Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, Vol. 61, #2 (June): 286-302.
Mentions the Kalapuya Indians using fire to drive game, reduce brush,
and improve seed crops.
Kay, Charles
1994 "Aborginal Overkill: The Role of Native Americans in Structuring
Western Ecosystems." Human Nature, Vol. 5, #4: 359-398. Discusses the
use of fire and other methods to modifying ecosystems, especially prior
to the Lewis & Clark expedition 1804-06.
Kilgore, Bruce M.
1973 "The Ecological Role of Fire in Sierran Conifer Forests: Its Applica-
tion to National Park Management." Quarternary Research, Vol. 3, #3
(Oct): 496-513. Brief mention on page 505 citing Reynolds (1959) and
Driver (1937).
1985 "What is 'Natural' in Wilderness Fire Management?" Pp. 57-67 in James
E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators) Proceedings--Symposium and
Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Montana, November 15-18, 1983.
General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service,
Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Kilgore, Bruce M. and Dan Taylor
1979 "Fire History of a Sequoia-Mixed Conifer Forest." Ecology, Vol. 60, #1
(Feb): 129-142. Mentions Yokuts and Western Mono (Monache) tribes using
fire in ecosystems.
King, Duane H.
1988 "The Day Tahlequah Burned." Journal of Cherokee Studies, Vol. 13:
46-54.
Komarek Sr., Edwin V.
1965 "Fire Ecology--Grasslands and Man." Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire
Ecology Conference, March 18-19, 1965, Number 4: 169-220. Tallahassee,
FL: Tall Timbers Research Station.
1967 "Fire--And the Ecology of Man." Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology
Conference, March 6-7, 1967, Number 6: 143-170. Tallahassee, FL: Tall
Timbers Research Station.
Komarek Sr., Edwin V. (continued)
1969 "Fire and Man in the Southwest." Pp. 3-22 in Robert F. Wagle (ed.)
Proceedings of the Symposium on Fire Ecology and the Contola and Use of
Fire in Wild Land Management. Tucson, AZ: Journal of the Arizona
Academy of Science. Especially pages 13-15.
Kruckeberg, Arthur R.
1991 The Natural History of Puget Sound Country. Seattle, WA: University of
Washington Press. 468 pages. Notes Indian fires on pages 393 and 396.
Lebow, Clayton G.; Richard M. Pettigrew; Jon M. Silvermoon; David H. Chance;
Robert T. Boyd; Yvonne Hajda; and Henry B. Zenk.
1990 A Cultural Resource Overview for the 1990's, BLM Prineville District,
Oregon. Cultural Resource Series No. 5. Portland, OR: USDI Bureau of
Land Management.
Leiberg, John B.
1900a "The Bitterroot Forest Reserve." Pp. 317-410 in Twentieth Annual Report
[1898-99] of the United States Geological Survey - Part V: Forest
Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey.
1900b "Cascade Range Forest Reserve, Oregon, from Township 28 South to Town-
ship 37 South..." Pp. 209-498 in Twenty-First Annual Report [1899-1900]
of the United States Geological Survey - Part V: Forest Reserves.
Washington, DC: USDI Geological Survey. Brief mention on page 278.
1902 Forest Conditions in the Northern Sierra Nevada, California. U.S.G.S.
Professional Paper No. 8. Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O. Mentions Indian
burning on page 40.
Lewis, Henry T.
1973 Patterns of Indian Burning in California: Ecology and Ethnohistory.
Lowell John Bean (ed.). Ballena Anthropological Papers Vol. 1. Ramona,
CA: Ballena Press. Reprinted in Thomas C. Blackburn and Kat Anderson
(eds.) Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Cali-
fornians. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press. 101 pages. Classic study.
1977 "Maskuta: The Ecology of Indian Fires in Northern Alberta." Western
Canadian Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 7, #1: 15-52.
1978 "Traditional Uses of Fire in Northern Alberta." Pp. 61-62 in Dennis E.
Dube (compiler) Fire Ecology in Resource Management: Workshop Proceed-
ings, December 6-7, 1977. Information Report NOR-X-210. Edmonton,
Alberta: Environment Canada, Canadian Forestry Service, Northern Forest
Research Centre.
1980a "Hunter-Gatherers and Problems for Fire History." Pp. 115-119 in Marvin
A. Stokes and John H. Dieterich (technical coordinators) Proceedings of
the Fire History Workshop: October 20-24, 1980, Tucson, Arizona.
General Technical Report RM-81. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
1980b "Indian Fires in Spring: Hunters and Gatherers of the Canadian Forest
Shaped Their Habitat with Fire." Natural History, Vol. 89, #1 (Jan):
76-78, 82-83.
1982 "Fire Technology and Resource Management in Aboriginal North American
and Australia." Pp. 45-67 in Nancy M. Williams and Eugene S. Hunn
(eds.) Resource Managers: North American and Australian Hunter-
Gatherers; Proceedings of AAAS Selected Symposium 67. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, Inc.
1982 "A Time for Burning." Occasional Publication No. 17. Edmonton,
Alberta: University of Alberta, Boreal Institute for Northern Studies.
22 pages.
Lewis, Henry T. (continued)
1985 "Why Indians Burned: Specific Versus General Reasons." Pp. 75-80 in
James E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators) Proceedings--Symposium
and Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Montana, November, 15-18,
1983. General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest
Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
1990 "Reconstructing Patterns of Indian Burning in Southwestern Oregon." Pp.
80-84 in Nan Hannon and Richard K. Olmo (eds.) Living with the Land:
The Indians of Southwest Oregon - Proceedings of the 1989 Symposium on
the Prehistory of Southwest Oregon. Medford, OR: Southern Oregon
Historical Society.
Lewis, Henry T. and Theresa A. Ferguson
1988 "Yards, Corridors, and Mosaics: How to Burn a Boreal Forest." Human
Ecology, Vol. 16, #1 (Mar): 57-77. Notes Indian fire use in NW Cali-
fornia and western WA in pages 58-63 .
Little, C.
1974 "Effects of Fire on Temporate Forests: Northeastern United States."
Pp. 225-250 (Chapter 7) in T.T. Kozlowski and C.E. Ahlgren (eds.) Fire
and Ecosystems. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Loope, Lloyd L. and George E. Gruell
1973 "The Ecological Role of Fire in the Jackson Hole Area, Northwestern
Wyoming." Quaternary Research, Vol. 3, #3 (Oct): 425-443. Discussion
on pages 432-433.
Lorimer, Craig C.
1993 "Causes of the Oak Regeneration Problem." Pp. 13-39 in David Loftis and
Charles E. McGee (eds.) Oak Regeneration: Serious Problems, Practical
Recommendations. Symposium Proceedings, September 8-10, 1992, Knox-
ville, Tennessee. Presented by the Center for Oak Studies. General
Technical Report SE-84. Asheville, NC: USDA Forest Service, South-
eastern Forest Experiment Station. 319 pages. Refer to the "Historical
Factors" section pages 21-29, which also mentions burning by ealry
settlers.
Loscheider, Mavis
1975 "Indian Fire Practices of the Northern Great Plains and Adjacent Areas:
An Ethnohistorical Account." Unpublished Ms. Missoula, MT: University
of Montana. 26 pages.
1977 "Use of Fire in Interethnic & Intraethnic Relation on the Northern
Plain." The Western Canadian Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 7, #4:
82-96.
Lutz, Harold J.
1959 Aboriginal Man and White Men as Historical Causes of Fires in the Boreal
Forest, with Particular Reference to Alaska. Yale School of Forestry
Bulletin No. 65. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
MacCleery, Douglas W.
1992 "American Forests: A History of Resiliency and Recovery." Forest
Service Publication 540. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service in
cooperation with the Forest History Society. 59 pages. A general
overview of United States forest history since the 16th century.
Reprinted in 1993 by the Forest History Society in Durham, NC.
1994 "Resilency and Recovery: A Brief History of Conditions and Trends in
U.S. Forests." Forest & Conservation History, Vol. 38, #3 (July):
135-139. Mantions on page 136. Excerpts from above references.
Macduff, Nelson Ferris
1920 "'Siwash Forestry' [Light Burning or Paiute Forestry]." Six Twenty-Six,
Vol. 14, #8 (April 20): 1. USDA Forest Service newsletter mimeographed
in Portland, OR, by the FS Regional Office.
Malouf, Carling I.
1969 "The Coniferous Forests and Their Uses in the Northern Rocky Mountains
Through 9,000 Years of Prehistory." Pp. 271-290 in Richard D. Taber
(ed.) Coniferous Forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains: Proceeding of
the 1968 Symposium. Missoula, MT: University of Montana, Center for
Natural Resources. Brief mention of fire use with lots of other uses.
1974 Economy and Land Use by the Indians of Western Montana. New York City,
NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Martin, Calvin
1973 "Fire and Forest Structure in Aboriginal Eastern Forests." Indian
Historian, Vol. 6 (Summer): 23-26 and (Fall): 38-42, 54.
Martin, Robert E. and David B. Sapsis
1992 "Fires as Agents of Biodiversity: Pyrodiversity Promotes Biodiver-
sity." In Proceedings of the Symposium on Biodiversity of Northwestern
California: Santa Rosa, California (October 28-30, 1991). Report #29.
Berkeley, CA: University of California, Wildland Resources Center,
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Maxwell, Hu
1910 "The Use and Abuse of Forests by the Virginia Indians." William and
Mary College Quarterly, Vol. 19, #2 (Oct): 73-103. Especially "Indian
Forest Fires" Pp. 86-94.
Mills, Barbara J.
1986 "Prescribed Burning and Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence Systems."
Haliska'i: UNM Contributions to Anthropology, Vol. 5: 1-26.
Minore, Don; Alan W. Smart; and Michael E. Dubrasich
1979 "Huckleberry Ecology and Management Research in the Pacific Northwest."
General Technical Report PNW-93. Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service,
Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 50 pages.
Minto, John
1900 "The Number and Condition of the Native Race in Oregon When First Seen
by White Men." Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1, #3 (Mar): 296-315.
Revised and reprinted on pages 41-55 in Minto's Rhymes of Early Life in
Oregon and Historical and Biographical Facts (c.1912), Salem, OR:
Statesman Publishing Co. Several mentions of Indian use of fire.
Mohr, Albert and L.L. Sample
1983 "Upper Chinookian Fire Planes: Two New North American Fire-Making
Techniques." Ethnology, Vol. 22, #3 (July): 253-262.
Moir, William and Peter Mika
1972 "Prairie Vegetation of the Willamette Valley, Benton County, Oregon."
Unpublished Ms. Corvallis, OR: USDA Forestry Sciences Laboratory.
Moore, Conrad Taylor
1972 "Man and Fire in the Central North American Grassland 1535-1890: A
Documentary Historical Geography." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Los
Angeles, CA: University of California - Los Angeles. 155 pages.
Morris, Sandra L.
1993 "Wildfire - A Part of Cultural Prehistory in Montana: Implications for
Public Land Managers." Archaeology in Montana, Vol. 33, #1: 79-90.
Morris, William G.
1934 "Lightning Storms and Fires on the National Forests of Oregon and
Washington." Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest
Forest and Range Experiment Station. Brief mention of Indian fires.
Mosgrove, Jerry L.
1980 The Malheur National Forest: An Ethnographic History. John Day, OR:
USDA Forest Service, Malheur National Forest. 253 pages. Notes Indian
fire use on pages 148-150.
Nelson, J.G. and R.E. England
1978 "Some Comments on the Causes and Effects of Fire in the Northern Grass-
lands Area of Canada and the Nearby United States, 1750-1900." Pp.
39-47 in Connie M. Bourassa and Arthur P. Brackebusch (eds.) Proceedings
of the 1977 Rangeland Management and Fire Symposium. Missoula, MT:
University of Montana, School of Forestry. 95 pages.
Norton, Helen H.
1979 "The Association Between Anthropogenic Prairies and Important Food
Plants in Western Washington." Northwest Anthropological Research
Notes, Vol. 13, #2: 175-200.
Onken, T.L.
1984 "Prehistoric Fire Activity and Vegetation Near Flathead Lake, Montana."
Unpublished MS thesis. Missoula, MT: University of Montana.
Patterson, Rich
1992 "Fire in the Oaks [Indian Creek Nature Center in Iowa]: In the Midwest,
the Smokey Bear Mentality is Grudgingly Giving Way to a System of
Planned Burns that has Woodland Managers all Fired Up." American
Forests, Vol. 98, #11/12 (Nov/Dec): 32-34, 58-59. Mentions Indian fires
on page 32.
Patterson III, William A. and Kenneth E. Sassaman.
1988 "Indian Fires in the Prehistory of New England." Pp. 107-135 in George
P. Nichols (ed.) Holocene Human Ecology in Northeastern North America.
New York City, NY: Plenum Publishers.
Pfister, Robert D.; Bernard L. Kovalchik; Stephen F. Arno; and Richard C. Presby
1977 Forest Habitat Types of Montana. General Technical Report INT-34.
Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experi-
ment Station. Pp. 14-15.
Phillips, Clinton B.
1985 "The Relevance of Past Indian Fires to Current Fire Management Pro-
grams." Pp. 87-92 in James E. Lotan, et al. (technical coordinators)
Proceedings--Symposium and Workshop on Wilderness Fire: Missoula, Mon-
tana, November 15-18, 1983. General Technical Report INT-182. Ogden,
UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station.
Phillips, Paul Chrisler (ed.)
1940 W.A. Ferris: Life in the Rocky Mountains (Diary of the Wanderings of a
Trapper in the Years 1831-1832). Denver, CO: The Old West Publishing
Co.
"Pioneer of 1847"
1911 "Indian vs. Pinchot Conservation - Pioneer of '47 Upholds Aborigines'
Plan of Burning Underbrush - Oregon City, OR." Letter to the editor
dated January 24th. Oregonian, January 26th, page 10, column 6.
Plummer, Fred G.
1900 "Mount Rainier Forest Reserve [now Mt. Rainier NP], Washington." Pp.
81-143 in Twenty-First Annual Report [1899-1900] of the United States
Geological Survey - Part V: Forest Reserves. Washington, DC: USDI
Geological Survey. Mentions on page 135 burning for promoting growth of
berries and to drive game animals.
Pyne, Stephen J.
1981 "Fire Policy and Fire Research in the U.S. Forest Service." Journal of
Forest History, Vol. 25, #2 (Apr): 64-77. Indian fire use on page 66.
1982 Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Especially Chapter 2 "The
Fire From Asia" Pp. 66-122.
1983a "Fire and Forest Management." Pp. 169-173 in Richard C. Davis (ed.)
Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History. Vol. 1. New
York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. Especially page 171 which
briefly recounts Indian and early pioneer use of fire.
1983b "Indian Fires: The Fire Practices of North American Indians Transformed
Large Areas from Forest to Grassland." Natural History, Vol. 92, #2
(Feb): 6, 8, 10-11.
1993 "Keeper of the Flame: A Survey of Anthropogenic Fire." Pp. 245-266 in
Paul J. Crutzen and Johann Georg Goldammer (eds.) Fire in the Environ-
ment: The Ecological, Atmospheric, and Climatic Importance of Vegeta-
tion Fires: Report of the Dahlem Workshop, Held in Berlin, 15-20 March
1992. Environmental Sciences Research Report ES 13. New York, NY:
John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Reid, Kenneth C.; John A. Draper; and Peter E. Wigland
1989 Prehistory and Paleoenvironments of the Silvies Plateau, Harney Basin,
Southeastern Oregon. Pullman, WA: Washington State University, Center
for Northwest Anthropology.
Reynolds, Richard Dwan
1959 "Effect of Natural Fires and Aboriginal Burning Upon the Forests of the
Central Sierra Nevada." Unpublished MA thesis. Berkeley, CA: Univer-
sity of California. 268 pages. He notes that 35 tribes used fire to
increase the yield of seed crops, 33 tribes used fire to drive game, and
22 tribes used fire to stimulate wild tobacco.
Robbins, William G. and Donald W. Wolf
1994 "Landscape and the Intermontane Northwest: An Environmental History."
General Technical Report PNW-GTR-319. Dated February 1994. Portland,
OR: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Discus-
sion on Indian use of fire on pages 1-11 using historical documents in
eastern Washington and Oregon.
Roe, Frank Gilbert
1955 The Indian and the Horse. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Brief mentions of Indian burning.
Rostlund, Erhard
1957 "The Myth of a Natural Prairie Belt in Alabama: An Interpretation of
Historical Records." Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Vol. 47, #4 (Dec): 392-411.
Ruckman, Jim
1993 "Prescribed Burning - Modern Applications for a Traditional Tool."
Virginia Forests, Vol. 48 (Winter): 19-21. Brief history of vegetation
management by fire in Virginia by Native Americans, European colonists,
and state citizens, mostly nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Russell, Emily W.B.
1983a "Indian-Set Fires in the Forests of the Northeastern United States."
Ecology, Vol. 64, #1 (Feb): 78-88. Author found no strong evidence that
Indians purposely burned large areas, but they did burn small areas near
their habitation sites.
1983b "Indian-Set Fires in Northeastern Forests." Bioscience, Vol. 33, #7
(July-Aug): 462.
Salomon, Julian Harris
1984 "Indians that Set the Woods on Fire." The Conservationist, Vol. 38, #5
(Mar/Apr): 35-39.
Sauer, Carl O.
1950 "Grassland Climax, Fire, and Man." Journal of Range Management, Vol. 3,
#1 (Jan): 16-21. Brief discussion on page 19.
1956 "The Agency of Man of Earth." Pp. 49-69 in W.L. Thomas (ed.) Man's Role
in Changing the Face of the Earth. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press.
1971 Sixteenth-Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by the
Europeans. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
1975 "Man's Dominance by Use of Fire." Geoscience and Man, Vol. 10: 1-13.
1980 Seventeenth-Century North America. Berkeley, CA: Turtle Island Press.
Sauter, John and Bruce Johnson
1974 Tillamook Indians of the Oregon Coast. Portland, OR: Binsford and
Mort. 196 pages. Mentions on page 76 spring burning of Neahkanie
Mountain and surrounding hills to stimulate new browse to attrack deer
and elk, make easier hunting and travel, and drive small game to traps.
Savage, Melissa
1991 "Structural Dynamics of a Southwestern Pine Forest Under Chronic Human
Influence." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 81,
#2: 271-289.
Schaeffer, C.D.
1940 "The Subsistence Quest of the Kootenai." Unpublished Ph.D. disserta-
tion. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.
Sedjo, Roger A.
1991 "Forest Resources: Resilient and Serviceable." Pp. 81-122 in Kenneth
D. Frederick and Roger A. Sedjo (eds.) America's Renewable Resources:
Historical Trends and Current Challenges. Washington, DC: Resources
for the Future. Brief mentions on pages 82-83.
Shinn, Dean A.
1977 "Man and the Land: An Ecological History of Fire and Grazing on Eastern
Oregon Rangelands." Unpublished MS thesis. Corvallis, OR: Oregon
State University. Includes a 10-page discussion of Indian use of fire.
1980 "Historical Perspectives on Range Burning in the Inland Pacific
Northwest." Journal of Range Management, Vol. 33, #6 (Nov): 415-423.
Shumate, Maynard
1950 "The Archaeology of the Vicinity of Great Falls, Montana." Anthropology
and Sociology Papers No. 2, edited by Carling I. Malouf. Missoula, MT:
University of Montana.
Slaughter, Charles W.; Richard J. Barney; and George M. Hansen (eds.)
1971 Fire in the Northern Environment - A Symposium [University of Alaska in
College, AK, April 13-14, 1971]. Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service,
Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Mentions Indian
use of fire in papers by Richard J. Barney (pp. 51-59) and Miron L.
Heinselman (pp. 61-72).
Smith, Craig S.
1988 "Seeds, Weeds, and Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers." Plains Anthro-
pologist, Vol. 33, #120 (May): 141-158.
Smithsonian Institution
1978a Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8 - California. Robert F.
Heizer (volume ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
References to Indian burning for the Chirariko, Shasta, Achumawi,
Patwin, Eastern Miwok, Northern Valley Yokuts, Costanoan, Luiseno,
Serrano, and Tipai Tribes and peoples.
1978b Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15 - Northeast. Bruce G.
Trigger (volume ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Tribes
reported using fire were the Eastern Algonquins, Virginia Algonquins,
Northern Iroquois, Huron, Mahican, and Delewares.
1986 Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11 - Great Basin. Warren L.
d'Azevedo (volume ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
References to Indian burning for the Ute and Kawaiisu Tribes, as well as
unspecified others.
1990 Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7 - Northwest Coast. Wayne
Suttles (volume ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Only
reported tribe using fire was the Athapaskans of southwest Oregon.
Snyder, James R.
1989 "Fire Regimes in Subtropical South Florida." Proceedings: Tall Timbers
Forest Fire Conference, May 18-21, 1989, Number 17: 303-319. Tallahas-
see, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station.
Soeriaatmadja, Roehajat Emon
1966 "Fire History of the Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Warm Springs Indian
Reservation, Oregon." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Corvallis, OR:
Oregon State University. 123 pages.
Sperlin, Ottis Bedney
1931 The Bradenridge Journal for the Oregon Country. Seattle, WA: Univer-
sity of Washington Press. He noted that burning by the Kalapuya Indians
was accomplished to: Make open prairie, harvest seeds, improve hunting,
concentrate big game in unburned areas, and promote the growth of seed-
bearing plants.
Steward, Julian H.
1933 "Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute." University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Vol. 33: 223-350.
Notes fire use by Mono Lake and Ash Valley Paiutes to drive rabbits,
fire used to drive antelope by the Ash Valley Paitues, and fire used to
drive deer by the Owens Valley Paiutes.
Stewart, Omer C.
1951 "Burning and Natural Vegetation in the United States." Geographical
Review, Vol. 41, #2 (Apr): 317-320. Long-range effects of fires,
especially on the prairies, 1528-1936.
1954a "The Forgotten Side of Ethnogeography." Pp. 211-248 in Robert F.
Spencer (ed.) Method and Perspective in Anthropology: Papers in Honor
of Wilson D. Wallis. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Role of Indian fire on prairies and forests, and the controversies among
scientists over grass and woods-burning practices of Indians and whites
since the 19th century. Classic study.
Stewart, Omer C. (continued)
1954b "Forest Fires with a Purpose." Southwestern Lore, Vol. 20, #12 (Dec):
42-46; Vol. 21, #4 (Apr 1955): 59-64; and Vol. 21, #6 (June 1955): 3-9.
Concerning deliberate Indian use of fire and "controlled burning" by
foresters. He notes that almost every tribe used fire to modify their
environment.
1956 "Fire as the First Great Force Employed by Man." Pp. 115-133 in William
L. Thomas Jr. (ed.) Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
1963 "Barriers to Understanding the Influence of Use of Fire by Aborigines on
Vegetation." Proceedings: Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, March
14-15, 1963, Number 2: 117-126. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research
Station.
Storm, Jacqueline
1990 "The Ancient Indian Fallers." Quinault Natural Resources, Vol. 13,
(Fall/Winter): 16-17.
Surdam, Elmer
1937 "Indian Affairs of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries."
CCC Camp Cascadia Cannonade, November 16, 1937: 11-12, 15. Mentions
burning by the Willamette Valley (Kalapuya) tribes "to create grass land
for the game [animals] and to keep down big forest fires."
Taylor, Dale L.
1974 "Forest Fires in Yellowstone National Park." Journal of Forest History,
Vol. 18, #3 (July): 68-77. Mentions that Lehmi Reservation Indians set
a fire at the park boundary in 1886. Also notes fires set by trappers
and explorers.
Taylor, R.J. and T.R. Boss
1975 "Biosystematics of Quercus garryana in Relation to its Distribution in
the State of Washington." Northwest Science, Vol. 59: 49-57. Notes the
importance in Indian burning to maintain oak stands.
Teensma, Peter D.A.
1987 "Fire History and Fire Regimes of the Central Western Cascades of
Oregon." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Eugene, OR: University of
Oregon.
Thilenius, John F.
1968 "The Quercus garryana [Oregon White Oak] Forests of the Willamette
Valley." Ecology, Vol. 49, #6 (Autumn): 1124-1133.
Thomas, Gregory
1977 "Fire and the Fur Trade." The Beaver, Vol. 308, #2 (Autumn): 32-39.
Thompson, Daniel Q. and Ralph H. Smith
1970 "The Forest Primeval in the Northeast - a Great Myth?" Proceedings:
Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, August 20-21, 1970, Number 10:
255-265. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station.
Thoms, Alston V. and Greg C. Burtchard (eds.)
1987 Prehistoric Land Use in the Northern Rocky Mountains: A Perspective
from the Middle Kootenai River Valley. Project report No. 4. Pullman,
WA: Center for Northwest Anthropology. Pp. 123-172.
Thwaites, Rueben Gold (ed.)
1969 Original Journals of Lewis and Clark Expedition. New York, NY: Arno
Press, Inc.
Timbrook, Jan; John R. Johnson; and David D. Earle
1982 "Vegetation Burning by the Chumash." Journal of California and Great
Basin Anthropology, Vol. 4, #2 (Winter): 163-186. Reprinted in Thomas
Blackburn and Kat Anderson (eds.) Before the Wilderness: Environmental
Management by Native Californians. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press.
Tobie, Harvey E.
1927 "The Willamette Valley Before the Great [Settler] Immigrations."
Unpublished MA thesis. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon. 219 pages.
Mentions extensive Indian set fires through the review of many early
explorers, trappers, missionaries, and settlers that entered the
Willamette Valley in western Oregon from the 1810s to 1850s.
Towle, Jerry C.
1974 "Woodland in the Willamette Valley: An Historical Geography." Unpub-
lished Ph.D. dissertation. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.
1979 "Settlement and Subsistence in the Willamette Valley [of Oregon]: Some
Additional Considerations." Northwest Anthropological Research Notes,
Vol. 13, #1 (Summer): 12-21. Points out that vegetation of today is not
the same as it was when white settlers first saw it.
1982 "Changing Geography of Willamette Valley Woodlands." Oregon Historical
Quarterly, Vol. 83, #1 (Spring): 66-87.
Trudel, Pierre
1985 "Forest Fires and Excessive Hunting: The Ascription of the Native's
Role in the Decline of the Northern Quebec Caribou Herds, Circa
1880-1920." Recherches Amerindiennes au Quebec (Canada), Vol. 15, #3:
21-38.
Turner, Nancy J.
1991 "Burning Mountain Sides For Better Crops: Aboriginal Landscape Burning
in British Columbia." Archaeology In Montana, Vol. 32, #2: 57-73.
Turpin, Solveig A.
1984 "Smoke Signals on Seminole Canyon: A Prehistoric Communication
System?" Plains Anthropologist, Vol. 29, #104 (May): 131-138.
Vankat, John L.
1970 "Vegetation Change in Sequoia National Park, California." Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation. Davis, CA: University of California - Davis. 197
pages.
Vastokas, Joan M.
1969 "Architecture and Environment: The Importance of the Forest to the
Northwest Coast Indian." Forest History, Vol. 13, #3 (Oct): 12-21.
Viereck, Leslie A.
1973 "Wildfire in the Taiga of Alaska." Quarternary Research, Vol. 3, #3
(Oct): 465-495. Brief mention on page 469 citing Lutz (1959).
Weaver, Harold
1959 "Ecological Changes in the Ponderosa Pine Forest of the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation in Oregon." Journal of Forestry, Vol. 57, #1 (Jan):
15-20. Indirect evidence based on fire ecology studies made since 1903.
1974 "Effects of Fire on Temporate Forests: Western United States." Pp.
279-319 (Chapter 9) in T.T. Kozlowski and C.E. Ahlgren (eds.) Fire and
Ecosystems. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Wedel, Waldo R.
1957 "The Central North American Grassland: Man-Made or Natural?" Social
Science Monographs, Vol. 3: 39-69. Washington, DC: Pan American Union.
1961 Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. Norman, OK: University of Okla-
homa Press. Mentions fire as a hunting method.
Wendorf, Michael Andrew
1982 "Prehistoric Manifestations of Fire and the Fire Areas of Santa Rosa
Island, California." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley, CA:
University of California. 210 pages.
White, Richard
1975 "Indian Land Use and Environmental Change, Island County, Washington: A
Case Study." Arizona and the West, Vol. 17, #4 (Winter): 327-338.
1980 Land Use, Environment, and Social Change: The Shaping of Island County,
Washington. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. 234 pages.
Notes fire use by Salish and Skagit Tribes on pages 20-25.
Williams, Michael
1989 Americans & Their Forests: A Historical Geography. New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press. Especially Chapter 1.
Wilson, Samuel M.
1992 "'That Unmanned Wild Countrey': Native Americans Both Conserved and
Transformed New World Environments." Natural History, Vol. 101, #5
(May): 16-17.
Winterbotham, Jerry
1994 Umpqua: The Lost County of Oregon. Brownsville, OR: Creative Images
Printing. Numerous quotes and references to Indian burning in the
Willamette Valley and Coast Range of Oregon from the written journals of
early Hudson's Bay Company trappers, missionaries, and settlers along
the lower Umpqua River, Smith River and Siuslaw River systems.
Wright, Henry A. and Arthur W. Bailey
1980 "Fire Ecology and Prescribed Burning in the Great Plains--A Research
Review." General Technical Report INT-77. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest
Service Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 60 pages.
Several mentions.
1982 Fire Ecology: United States and Southern Canada. New York City, NY:
John Wiley & Sons. Numerous brief mentions.
Zenk, Henry B.
1976 "Contributions to Tualatin Ethnography: Subsistence and Ethnobiology."
Unpublished MA thesis. Portland, OR: Portland State University,
Department of History.