Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest

Robert Boyd

• Publisher: Oregon State University Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780870711480
• eBook ISBN: 9780870711497
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

This publication is supported by a generous grant from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde through their Cultural Resources Publication Sponsorship Program

Instead of discovering a land blanketed by dense forests, early explorers of the Pacific Northwest encountered a varied landscape including open woods, meadows, and prairies. Far from a pristine wilderness, much of the Northwest was actively managed and shaped by the hands of its Native American inhabitants. Their primary tool was fire.

This volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to one of the most important issues concerning Native Americans and their relationship to the land. Over more than 10,000 years, Native Americans in the Northwest learned the intricacies of their local environments and how to use fire to create desired effects, mostly in the quest for food.

Drawing on historical journals, Native American informants, and ethnobotanical and forestry studies, this book's contributors describe local patterns of fire use in eight ecoregions, representing all parts of the Native Northwest, from southwest Oregon to British Columbia and from Puget Sound to the Northern Rockies. Their essays provide glimpses into a unique understanding of the environment, one that draws on traditional ecological knowledge. Together, these writings also offer historical perspective on the contemporary debate over "prescribed burning" and management of public lands.

This updated edition includes a foreword by Frank K. Lake and a new epilogue by editor Robert T. Boyd. Contributors include Stephen Arno, Stephen Barrett, Theresa Ferguson, David French, Eugene Hunn, Leslie Johnson, Jeff LaLande, Estella Leopold, Henry Lewis, Helen H. Norton, Reg Pullen, William Robbins, John Ross, Nancy Turner, and Richard White.
 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Aboriginal Control of Huckleberry Yield in the Northwest
• Indian Land Use and Environmental Change: Island County, Washington: A Case Study
• Indian Fires in the Northern Rockies: Ethnohistory and Ecology
• The Klikitat Trail of South-central Washington: A Reconstruction of Seasonally Used Resource Sites
• Strategies of Indian Burning in the Willamette Valley
• An Ecological History of Old Prairie Areas in Southwestern Washington
• Yards, Corridors, and Mosaics: How to Burn a Boreal Forest
• “Time to Burn”: Traditional Use of Fire to Enhance Resource Production by Aboriginal Peoples in British Columbia
• Landscape and Environment: Ecological Change in the Intermontane Northwest
• Aboriginal Burning for Vegetation Management in Northwest British Columbia
• Burning for a “Fine and Beautiful Open Country”: Native Uses of Fire in Southwestern Oregon
• Proto-historical and Historical Spokan Prescribed Burning and Stewardship of Resource Areas
• Conclusion: Ecological Lessons from Northwest Native Americans
• Epilogue: Twenty-two Years Later: New Directions and a Literature Review of Research on Pacific Northwest Native American Use of Fire
• Contributors
• Index