Fire History
The most comprehensive research by
the Missouri Tree-Ring Laboratory has been the construction of fire
histories throughout the regions of the Midwestern and western U.S. and southern Canada. Fire histories are temporal models of the occurrence of fire at a
particular location on the landscape. We derive fire histories from fire scars on annual growth rings of
trees such as post oak, shortleaf pine, and eastern white pine. Tree rings date fire occurrences to the
year and sometimes season of which they occurred. In turn, the variation in burning over
long time periods can be attributed to climate or anthropogenic factors such as
changes in population density. One of the most important results
from our fire history research has been the widespread acceptance of fire
as an important ecological disturbance agent in Midwestern forests. Information on the role, frequency and
extent of wildland fire over the last 400 years aids in the management of
forests and wildlife. In addition,
fire history is a history of how humans and wildlands have interacted over
long periods. Dr. Guyette and the
MTRL have reconstructed the history of fire at over 60 sites throughout the U.S. and Southern Ontario, Canada.
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