Forgotten Fires: Native Americans and the Transient Wilderness

by Omer C. Stewart, Henry T. Lewis (Editor), M. Kat Anderson (Editor)

A common stereotype about American Indians is that for centuries they lived in stataic harmony with nature in a pristine wilderness that remained unchanged until European colonization. Omer C. Stewart was one of the first anthropologists to recognize that Native Americans made significant impact across a wide range of environments. Most important, they regularly used fire to manage plant communities and associated animal species through varied and localized habitat burning. In Forgotten Fires, editors Henry T. Lewis and M. Kat Anderson present Stewart’s original research and insights, presented in the 1950s yet still provocative today. Significant portions of Stewart’s text have not been available until now, and Lewis and Anderson set Stewart’s findings in the context of current knowledge about Native hunter-gathers and their uses of fire. This volume shows that for thousands of years, the North American landscape has been regularly shaped and renewed by the land and fire management practices of North American Indians.

Genres: History, Indigenous, Science, Nature, Native Americans, Ecology, Natural History

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bob Wernerehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing, eye-opening account of what we now call "prescribed fire" and it's use by Native Americans. It should be read by every land manager and plant ecologist who wants to truly understand plant communities in the United States. It is extremely well-researched with 40 single-spaced pages of bibliography. The author was born in 1908 and so was able to interview many Native American elders during the 1930s and 40s when memories of former times were still largely intact. In addition, he turned to numerous written sources, many of which were new to me. It turns out, no surprise to some, that the Tribes knew exactly how, when and why to set fires and used it as a refined technology to produce the results they needed. And they did this in all 50 states. The book has 60 pages of introductory material that is also fascinating, detailing much of the very long struggle to get early plant ecologists to recognize the importance of fire in shaping plant communities.

[Thomas Ray]

Library-of-Congress E98 F38 S74 2002 College Library Rm 1193 Ethnic Studies Collection, and Historical Society Library

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for High Country News, March 2003:
http://www.hcn.org/issues/256/14181

[Andy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book detailing the relationship of fire and the land in the United States, and the use of fire by native american's to alter the landscape, as well as taking advantage of naturally occurring fires.