Policies related to the "protect and preserve" mentality grew out of romantic era writings dating back to the 17th century which were not based on science or an understanding of the various ecosystems that European conquest came across. Most of the peoples in these new lands were considered to be privative stone aged peoples, sadly a mythology carried forward by anthropologists up until the last few decades. Omer Stewart was one who tried to bring forward the concepts of Indigenous burning practises but his works were heavily suppressed by his peers. Henry T. Lewis and Kat Anderson published his papers in a book called "Forgotten Fires", well worth the read if you can find it. Lewis and Anderson have both published excellent research related to the subject. Lewis had made a 16mm film called "The Fires of Spring" back in the late '70's, early 80's. He had digitized it and was re-editing it when he passed on. I was able to post the edited version on YouTube. You can view it here.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX0rhYqkC4Q PS, in your photos, you referenced "less than a decade", did you mean less than a century?
Super interesting. I'm constantly blown away by my pre-conceived notions of what forests/landscapes *should* look like when I learn more about things like high-severity fire regimes, the historical precedence of stand-replacing fires and how in many places (northern, east slope Rockies especially), regular fire historically maintained prairies and shrublands that have since become densely forested. Thanks for a thought-provoking read.
Policies related to the "protect and preserve" mentality grew out of romantic era writings dating back to the 17th century which were not based on science or an understanding of the various ecosystems that European conquest came across. Most of the peoples in these new lands were considered to be privative stone aged peoples, sadly a mythology carried forward by anthropologists up until the last few decades. Omer Stewart was one who tried to bring forward the concepts of Indigenous burning practises but his works were heavily suppressed by his peers. Henry T. Lewis and Kat Anderson published his papers in a book called "Forgotten Fires", well worth the read if you can find it. Lewis and Anderson have both published excellent research related to the subject. Lewis had made a 16mm film called "The Fires of Spring" back in the late '70's, early 80's. He had digitized it and was re-editing it when he passed on. I was able to post the edited version on YouTube. You can view it here.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX0rhYqkC4Q PS, in your photos, you referenced "less than a decade", did you mean less than a century?
Super interesting. I'm constantly blown away by my pre-conceived notions of what forests/landscapes *should* look like when I learn more about things like high-severity fire regimes, the historical precedence of stand-replacing fires and how in many places (northern, east slope Rockies especially), regular fire historically maintained prairies and shrublands that have since become densely forested. Thanks for a thought-provoking read.