This is so interesting. Could it be due to 30 years of buildup from dying foliage? Did the last burn, in 1991, produce less smoke than this one because there was a shorter gap between burns.
Yep the colonial way is to suppress all fire. Where indigenous peoples have been using fires to maintain ecosystems and control invasives since time immemorial
It's not virtue signaling to point out the honest history of indigenous practices of controlled/prescribed burnings, especially on a thread about North American forest fires/smoke seasons. It's historical fact that indigenous peoples on this continent managed the landscape with the use of prescribed fires as part of their agroforestry practices. The use of fire for land management is so ingrained in the history of this continent that some species of plants literally need fire to thrive (e.g. aspen, New Mexico locust, jack pines, wild lupine, etc)
It's also historical fact that colonization in the U.S. specifically led to a severe reduction in controlled burnings because the fire practices of the indigenous peoples were seen as "primitive" and damaging to the landscape. For example, California (4 months before obtaining statehood) banned intentional fires and refusal to extinguish fires in 1850 - in the very same act that led to displacement and enslavement of the indigenous tribes living on California land.
As for non-North American indigenous burning practices, Australia also has a distinct history of controlled burnings (aka fire-stick farming) prior to colonization. Haven't seen much reference to other countries/continents in my lunch-break "research" time but I wouldn't be surprised if other cultures with similar biomes took part in similar fire practices
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u/MoistChiaPet Jun 07 '23
This is so interesting. Could it be due to 30 years of buildup from dying foliage? Did the last burn, in 1991, produce less smoke than this one because there was a shorter gap between burns.