Native American Land Management

EuroAmerican Views of Indians The landscape that

Europeans discovered was “natural” and “pristine”.

Native Americans did not play a role in shaping or managing vegetation.

Late 1800’s - John Muir: “Indians walk softly and hurt the landscape hardly more than birds or squirrels.”

‘Ecological Indian’

1830 George Catlin “River Bluffs, 1,320 Miles above St. Louis”

National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

One exception to this view… John Wesley Powell Lived and studied Utes. 1879: Instrumental in

establishing the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology.

Recent View of Native Americans Native Americans did not have the

population numbers or technological skills to have an impact on the landscape. Clar 1959: “It would be difficult to find a reason

why the Indians should care one way or another if the forest burned. It is quite something else again to contend that the Indians used fire systematically to ‘improve’ the forest. Improve it for what purpose?”

US Land Management Philosophy 1870’s Conservation era

Forest reserves, National Parks established - kept Indians out Ex. 1893 Grand Canyon Forest Reserve

Havasupi “criminalized” for maintaining cultural land use practices 1963 Leopold Report and 1964 Wilderness Act

"As a primary goal, we would recommend that the biotic associations within each park be maintained, or where necessary recreated, as nearly as possible in the condition that prevailed when the area was first visited by the white man. A national park should represent a vignette of primitive America."

Fire accepted as a natural part of the ecosystem. “wilderness… affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the

imprint of man's work substantially unnoticed." Where does Indian burning fit in??

“Continuum of interactions” Native Americans occupied

North America for 7000-11,000 yrs.

Precolumbian population = 3.8 million (Vale 2000).

In California, estimated population = 310,000-350,000 one of highest densities in

North America. Not just hunter-gatherer or

agriculturalist.

Chumash settlements in coastal California in 1769 at the time of European colonization

(Keeley 2002)

Cultural Niche Hypothesis Henry Lewis 1973, Blackburn & Anderson 1993,

Laland et al 2001 Native Americans managed landscape to create

or enlarge their niche. Agents of Environmental Change

Dispersal agents Intentionally and unintentionally spreading species.

Habitat modifiers Expanded habitat in time and space.

Genetic modifiers Selective harvesting and transplanting favored specific

genotypes.

How do we know? Lewis 1973 Reconstruct relationships

between tribes and environment.

Evaluated food subsistence patterns.

Found high proportion of diet from grasses and early successional species.

Concluded agriculture not necessary if supplement diet of acorns, fish, game.

Evidence of extensive ecotones Vs. monoculture from high

severity fire or lack of fire. Maintained grasslands, prairies,

chaparral with fire. Native Americans were the

"superior edge species" (Odum 1971)

Management Techniques Burning

Considered most important tool. Applying fire to particular vegetation under specified environmental conditions such as seasonality and fire return interval.

Pruning Removing dead and living parts of plants to enhance

growth, form and fruit/seed production. Selective harvesting

Harvesting in a discriminate repetitive way that leads to trait selection, like enlargement of favored plant part, reduction of seed reproduction.

Tilling Removing soil during the harvest of underground

perennial plant organs (roots, rhizomes, bulbs), often followed by dividing these plants and leaving in the soil.

Management Techniques Sowing

Broadcasting seeds onto an area that has often been burned.

Weeding Enhance growth of favored species.

Transplanting Irrigating

Water diversion and artificial channels. Ex. Hohokam in Southern California

Burning for Acorns Black oak acorns extremely

important in the diet 200 pounds collected annually

by each adult near Quincy, CA Reasons for burning

Protect resource Clear the understory that could

carry fire into oak canopy Kill pests and pathogens

(filbert worms, filbert weevils) Remove encroaching conifers

that could shade out oaks White fir, Douglas fir

encroachment Facilitate gathering and acorn

visibility Expand potential distribution of

oaks

California black oak (Quercus kelloggii)

Burning and Broadcasting Seeds

Char/smoke stimulated species Clarkia Mule ears (Wyethia spp.) Popcorn flower

(Plagiobothrys spp.) Tobacco (Nicotiana spp).

Chia (Salvia columbariae)

Burning for Fruit and Seeds

Increase seed production of grasses, annuals

Increase diversity of food species

In chaparral, fire resprouters are most important fruit species. Manzanita, toyon,

chaparral cherry.

Digging stick with blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) corms.

Burning for Wildlife

Attract game to recently burned areas, edges Deer, rabbits, antelope,

quail, doves Young, tender plants -

water, sugars, nitrogen More animals, better quality

Herding Deer, buffalo, rabbits,

antelopes Drive animals into

enclosures, off cliffs, corridors

Predator visibility Prey visibility

Burning for Baskets Epicormic branches or

adventitious shoots Long, straight,

flexible, few blemishes, not forked

Maidu sprouting bases of big

leaf maple Western Mono

sprouts of Black oaks Miwok

Redbud and Hazel

Sumac (Rhus spp.), willow (Salix spp.), deer brush

(Ceanothus integerrimus), and redbud (Cercis occidentalis)

Burning for Wildfire Protection Reduce fuel load. Break up fuel continuity. Reduce fire severity to

spare resources.

“In the spring, the old squaws began to look about for the little dry spots of headland and sunny valley, and as fast as the dry spots appeared, they would be burned. In this way, Fire was always the servant, never the master.” (Joaquin Miller)

Burning for Type Conversion Convert chaparral to grass Why?

Attract game Increase species diversity and seed production Increase water supply

Evidence of Native American BurningThree theories… Remnant chaparral patches

(not correlated to aspect, soil type, elevation, Cooper 1922, Wells 1962).

Evidence of shrub reestablishment in after burning, grazing removed

CA grasslands occupy 25% of state, much of which are exotic grasses.

Native American Fire Regimes Frequency

Difficult to decipher Fire scars, charcoal records don’t indicate if ignition

source was NA or lightning. In areas with low lightning frequency, coincided with high pop

densities (Keeley) Historical accounts

Coast redwoods burned annually to reduce competition for basket plants

Burn "prairies" every 2-3 years to improve browse for game species, seeds

Other areas only burned once every 50 yrs Fire frequency changes between NA and current times

Larger ecological impact in Sierra Mixed Conifer than Coast redwood

Why?

Fire Regimes Season

Typically “When grass was dry" or "after seeds gathered" (Blackwell and Anderson)

Take advantage of successional stages (no need to seed) (Lewis 1973)

Fall burns Resprouting perennial grasses and bulbs in fall, followed by

annuals, legumes, forbs in winter, spring, early summer Summer burns

Kill resprouts and prevent encroachment Spring burns

Favor resprouts and get straight shoots for baskets (Biswell 1967)

How extensively did they burn in late summer/fall? Difficult to know because coincides with natural fire season

NA extended natural season in chaparral, increased frequency in oak woodlands and forests.

Fire Regimes Intensity

Lower intensity in most areas because of frequent burning and lower fuel loads.

Size Pollen record, historical

accounts show more open landscape (grass and shrublands)

Fire use objective not always compatible with control (Krech, Ecological Indian)

Herding buffalo on plains Driving enemies away Signal fires

Native American Fire Today 1975 Indian Self

Determination & Educational Assistance Act Gave tribes more control over

natural resources. Some tribes “compact” with

federal government agencies (BIA, USFS).

Others have tribal hotshot or fire crews.

Must follow federal regulations even if sovereign nation.

Fire suppression effects on NA

Changed native fire use Vegetation growth

eliminates culturally valuable species, makes more areas unusable

Lose cultural connection to land because no longer identifiable Ex. Yurok, Klamath Region

Prescribed fires Problematic: wrong time of

year, inaccessible areas for gathering Rodeo-Chediski Fire, 470,000 acres

Fort Apache Reservation

The other side of fire suppression 70% of Wildland Firefighters are Native American.

Chief Mountain Hotshots - Blackfeet Nation

Restoring Fire to the Landscape Where do we restore to?

11,000 yrs of possibility Is pre-European settlement

goal valid? Fuel loads Climate change Human population size and

distribution. Can we incorporate NA

practices? If so, which ones?

Final Important Points History is extremely complex to decipher Native Americans as a single group

Need to look at tribal differences Region they occupied

Vegetation type(s) Food availability

Customs and traditions Relationship with neighboring tribes