History
The History of Fire and the Human Use of Fire in the Northern Rockies

History
The History of Fire and the Human Use of Fire in the Northern Rockies

History
The History of Fire in the Northern Rockies

Along with the Great Fires of 1910, the opening of the Flathead Reservation to non-Indian settlement led to the near total elimination of tribal traditions of burning the land. It also helped usher in a non-Indian approach to forestry.


In coming decades, the forests of western Montana will likely be radically changed by a new environmental force already at work: global warming. The warming and drying of our climate will have far-reaching effects on our trees and other plants, and also on the way fire behaves in our region. And it may ironically complicate our efforts to restore fire in our management of the land. If taking action to address the climate crisis requires sharp reductions in our overall emissions of carbon dioxide, what will this mean for our plans to increase prescribed burning of our forests?

Tribal elders often note how different the weather is now compared to when they were young. The snow isn’t as deep, nor the cold as bitter. They often say this is because of too much pollution in the world. The elders’ close observations of the changing conditions around them is overwhelmingly corroborated by the weight of scientific evidence. Over and above natural cycles of climate, global warming is caused by rising emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases that are produced by people burning fossil fuels and other materials. Major sources include coal and oil-fired power plants and automobiles. Today, levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere are higher than at any time in the last 400,000 years—since long before our modern climate regime became established. Globally, the ten hottest years on record have all occurred since 1991.

The impacts are already obvious here, as the elders have noted. Studies have shown that Montana’s snowpack—the source of most of our water—has already declined 15 to 30% over the past 50 years, and this will accelerate in the future. It is estimated that by the middle of the century, all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will have completely disappeared.

The effect of global warming on fire will be equally dramatic. Scientists at the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Ore., and the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington now estimate that by the end of the century, the acreage burned each summer in Montana will increase five-fold, even without increased prescribed burning. The dwindling patches of old growth forest will be further reduced, which will in turn harm the animals that depend on those trees.i

At the same time, global warming is already worsening problems with pine beetles. Shorter and milder winters, and more stressed trees, are causing beetle populations to explode. They are also ranging higher in the mountains, into species of trees such as white bark pine that did not evolve with beetles and so lack any defenses. The dead trees in turn dramatically increase the amount of fuel available for fires.

It is too late to stop global warming altogether, but what we do now to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases will make a difference in how severe it will be, and how long its effects will last.

_________________
i Donald McKenzie, Ze'ev Gedalof, David L. Peterson, and Philip Mote, “Climatic Change, Wildfire, and Conservation,” Conservation Biology, Vol. 18, Issue 4 (August 2004), 890.


..

Along with the Great Fires of 1910, the opening of the Flathead Reservation to non-Indian settlement led to the near total elimination of tribal traditions of burning the land. It also helped usher in a non-Indian approach to forestry.


In coming decades, the forests of western Montana will likely be radically changed by a new environmental force already at work: global warming. The warming and drying of our climate will have far-reaching effects on our trees and other plants, and also on the way fire behaves in our region. And it may ironically complicate our efforts to restore fire in our management of the land. If taking action to address the climate crisis requires sharp reductions in our overall emissions of carbon dioxide, what will this mean for our plans to increase prescribed burning of our forests?

Tribal elders often note how different the weather is now compared to when they were young. The snow isn’t as deep, nor the cold as bitter. They often say this is because of too much pollution in the world. The elders’ close observations of the changing conditions around them is overwhelmingly corroborated by the weight of scientific evidence. Over and above natural cycles of climate, global warming is caused by rising emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases that are produced by people burning fossil fuels and other materials. Major sources include coal and oil-fired power plants and automobiles. Today, levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere are higher than at any time in the last 400,000 years—since long before our modern climate regime became established. Globally, the ten hottest years on record have all occurred since 1991.

The impacts are already obvious here, as the elders have noted. Studies have shown that Montana’s snowpack—the source of most of our water—has already declined 15 to 30% over the past 50 years, and this will accelerate in the future. It is estimated that by the middle of the century, all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will have completely disappeared.

The effect of global warming on fire will be equally dramatic. Scientists at the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Ore., and the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington now estimate that by the end of the century, the acreage burned each summer in Montana will increase five-fold, even without increased prescribed burning. The dwindling patches of old growth forest will be further reduced, which will in turn harm the animals that depend on those trees.i

At the same time, global warming is already worsening problems with pine beetles. Shorter and milder winters, and more stressed trees, are causing beetle populations to explode. They are also ranging higher in the mountains, into species of trees such as white bark pine that did not evolve with beetles and so lack any defenses. The dead trees in turn dramatically increase the amount of fuel available for fires.

It is too late to stop global warming altogether, but what we do now to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases will make a difference in how severe it will be, and how long its effects will last.

_________________
i Donald McKenzie, Ze'ev Gedalof, David L. Peterson, and Philip Mote, “Climatic Change, Wildfire, and Conservation,” Conservation Biology, Vol. 18, Issue 4 (August 2004), 890.


..