A collection of essays and scientific papers of varying date and quality, all discussing the native use of fire in the Pacific Northwest. I normally think of the Northwest as temperate rainforest, without much chance of fire; it turns out this was to the advantage of Native Americans/First Nations, since everything was wet enough that they could set fires without too much concern that they would get out of hand. Fire was used to maintain trails, to make “parkland” for game, and to signal (not the elaborate message system seen in Hollywood westerns, but just some smoke that would attract attention), but the foremost use was to make clearings for berry patches. Several authors collected oral histories from native elders, who universally regretted that the white forest management practice of suppressing all fires had turned once-productive berry patches into overgrown “jungles”.

There are several accounts of white forest managers, in blissful ignorance of native practices, complaining that natives set fires out of shear maliciousness, or to obtain work on fire-fighting crews; the countermeasures used were heavy fines against anyone caught setting fires, and only paying white forest fire crews. The natives countered by using “delayed action” incendiary devices – a candle on a pile of wood shavings, for example – that could be set and left. This attitude began to change in the 1970s when the importance of periodic forest fires became apparent. To a certain extent some of the papers here seem to display an opposite belief – that natives have exquisite knowledge of natural systems and everything they did or do will automatically be “in harmony with nature”. For example, one paper notes native burning caused increased sedimentation in rivers and reduced fish yield as a result, but speculates – without any evidence – that this was a conscious environmental management decision.

Several of the papers address, either directly or peripherally to another discussion, a common environmental myth – that the North American environment in 1492 was “pristine” and “totally untouched by the hand of man”. This has long since been refuted; there wasn’t any environment in North America that hadn’t been extensively modified by natives using fire long before Europeans arrived, but the concept needs to be repeated until it finally sinks in.

Since this is a collection of papers, there’s quite a variation in content, but every one of them was worth reading. Maps and other illustrations are all excellent, and references are extensive; however, there’s no overall biography or general suggestions for further reading other than the references at the end of each paper. ( )