Overview of the Fire History Section
Through time, people have used fire for a variety of economic, political, and ecological purposes. The different groups of people who have lived in the South have affected their habitats in varying ways. The degree to which the burning practices of any particular group of people have altered the landscape depends on several factors including population densities, burning techniques, fire behavior, and the responses of biological components in ecosystems. Changes in fire frequencies through time are often linked to social, political, and economic changes.
Fluctuations in human population densities through time have influenced fire history. Increases in population density and the intensity of resource use are often associated with increases in fire frequencies. Decreases in population density and resource use intensity are linked to decreases in fire frequencies. Examples from sub-sections of this encyclopedia entry illustrate these general trends. For instance, when Archaic Indians, who were hunter-gatherers, set up autumn camps and lit fires to trap game, fire frequencies near their camps increased. When Woodlands Indians began domesticating plants and used fire to clear gardens, there were increases in fire frequencies near their homesites. When Native American population densities began to decline due to the introduction of European diseases, there were decreases in fire frequencies near Indian settlements.
Political and economic transitions through time caused changes in fire frequencies. Examples from sub-pages of this entry illustrate this trend. For instance, in the early Historic period, fire regimes were more or less frequent depending on whether the land was managed by American Indians who cultivated temporary slash-and-burn gardens or by European settlers who raised row crops in permanent fields and grazed livestock in pastures. Industrialization, involving commodities such as cotton, turpentine, and timber, in the 19th and 20th centuries generally caused increases in fire frequencies and intensities. The creation of the United States Forest Service and shifts in federal policy from fire suppression to fire management caused major transitions in fire regimes during the late-19th and 20th century.
‘Fire management’ defines the current era in the relationship between people and fire. Fire management policies were created to respond to unhealthy environmental conditions resulting from historical fire practices, such as fire suppression, and in response to contemporary social, economic, and political needs. Many organizations are conducting research to determine how to use fire to achieve their land management goals. Many land managers in the South apply fire to the landscape to enhance wildlife habitat, reduce pest populations, optimize plant growth, and minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Nowadays, land managers burn during the “dormant season” (roughly November through February), similar to Prehistoric Native American burning patterns, and/or the “growing season” (roughly April through October) to mimic the “natural” fire season when lightning-ignited fires are more common.
This section of the fire encyclopedia describes general patterns in southern fire history during four time periods: Prehistory, History, Fire Suppression, and Fire Management. These time periods correspond to the four major types of human-caused fire regimes in the South (Table:Four Major Types of Human-Caused Fire Regimes in Mixed-Oak Forests Since 4000 BP). Readers will find examples from the four physiographic regions of the Coastal Plains, Piedmont, Southern Appalachians, and Ozark-Ouachita Highlands that illustrate general trends in fire use during these four periods. Viewers can also find a discussion of several major research issues related to fire history, including the use of ethnohistorical literature.
Encyclopedia ID: p846
