Faces in the Wilderness: a New Network of Crossdated Culturally-Modified Red Pine in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Northern Minnesota, USA

Larson, Evan R.; Johnson, Lane B.; Wilding, Thomas; Hildebrandt, Kalina M.; Kipfmueller, Kurt F.; Johnson, Lee R.

doi:10.1007/s10745-019-00109-4

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Tree-ring analysis of a cluster of CMTs on an island in Lake Saganaga placed the dates of modification squarely within a known period of Anishinaabe land use (Johnson et al 2018). Subsequent work established a network of 246 CMTs located across the BWCAW that contained 308 individual peel scars, of which 159 scars on 136 trees were absolutely dated ( Figure 3A; Larson et al 2019). The earliest inner date of samples collected in this effort was 1589, and the earliest peel scar documented was on a red pine trunk modified in 1743, only seven years after the earliest European American documentation of an Anishinaabe community along the western border of the study area (Burpee 1968).…”

Section: Methods and Results: A Revised History Of Fire In The Bwcawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vast majority of peels were created during the 1700s and 1800s, the period of highest fire frequency documented in the BWCAW ( Figure 3C), and the spatial distribution of the CMTs clearly aligns with the Border Route, one of the primary travel and trade corridors used by Anishinaabe communities and European American fur traders, especially during the North West Company era from 1780 to 1802 ( Figure 3A). The CMT data provided direct evidence of human land use in the BWCAW at specific sites and during specific times when fire occurred more frequently than at any other time during the past 400 years (Larson et al 2019). A peel scar on a culturally modified tree, with the inset showing tool marks associated with the creation of a peel scar that dated to the early growing season of 1790.…”

Section: Methods and Results: A Revised History Of Fire In The Bwcawmentioning

confidence: 99%

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People, Fire, and Pine: Linking Human Agency and Landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Beyond

Larson

Kipfmueller

Johnson

2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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The creation and modification of landscape patterns through interactions among people and the environment is a defining focus in the discipline of geography. Here, we contribute to that tradition by placing 500 years of red pine (Pinus resinosa) tree-ring data in the context of archaeological, ethnographic, and paleoecological records to describe patterns of Anishinaabeg land use and fire occurrence in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of northern Minnesota. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that stories of people, fire, and red pine are tightly interwoven in the BWCAW. We suggest that preferential use and maintenance of specific sites with fire by Border Lakes Anishinaabeg before 1900 led to the xerification of forest communities that produced conditions more desirable to people in a rugged nearboreal landscape. Today, after a century of fire absence, these sites represent fading ecological legacies that are still sought by wilderness users for their recreational values and perceived wilderness character. Ironically, protections granted by the 1964 Wilderness Act are resulting in a decline of the red pine forests once used to help justify establishment of the BWCAW. An opportunity exists for wilderness managers, users, and advocacy groups to reassess the need for active management and the strategic return of frequent fire to the aging pine forests of the BWCAW. Engaging descendent communities of the Border Lakes Anishinaabeg in these efforts could help move beyond conventional approaches to wilderness management and restore the reciprocal relationship between people, fire, and red pine in the BWCAW and beyond.

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Section: Methods and Results: A Revised History Of Fire In The Bwcawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methods and Results: A Revised History Of Fire In The Bwcawmentioning

confidence: 99%

People, Fire, and Pine: Linking Human Agency and Landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Beyond

Larson

Kipfmueller

Johnson

2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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“…Furthermore, the close spatial association of frequent fire sites in the BWCAW to CMTs (Larson et al. 2019), represents the clear association of both fire scars and CMTs with areas of traditional Indigenous use that were off the Border Route (Larson et al. 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2018, Larson et al. 2019, 2021) These were differentiated from fire‐scar injuries by characteristic tool marks (e.g., axe cuts, patterned scrapings), location on the tree bole, and overall shape. We collected samples from these CMTs where wilderness regulations allowed and, with permission from Anishinaabe Knowledge Keepers, appointed tribal community representatives, and U.S. Forest Service Cultural Resource specialists.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human augmentation of historical red pine fire regimes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

et al. 2021

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The Border Lakes Region of Minnesota and Ontario has long been viewed as a firedependent ecosystem. High-severity fire in the region's near-boreal forests has been a focus of ecological research and public fascination. However, the surface fire history within this transnational wilderness landscape has received more limited attention. We used an interdisciplinary, dendroecological approach to characterize the surface fire history of the region, assess potential drivers of historical surface fires, and document the ecological legacies of frequent fires within the red pine forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota. We used tree-ring and fire atlas data to reconstruct multi-century surface fire records for 101 sites and document age structure and composition at 32 sites across the BWCAW. Stratification of these sites relative to their proximity to a primary travel and trade corridor used first by Indigenous groups and later by Euro-American fur traders through the late 1800s provided strong evidence of human augmentation of fires. The patterns of fire activity, fire-climate relationships, and forest development indicate that traditional landuse by Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) increased rates of local surface fire and played an important role in shaping the landscape. The decline of traditional subsistence practices by the Border Lakes Anishinaabeg coincided with a sharp decline in surface fires and a period of abundant tree establishment. In the absence of repeat surface fires, many red pine sites have shifted in composition, increased in stem density, and grown vulnerable to forest-type conversion through future high-severity fire. These results highlight the need for active fire reintroduction to red pine forests of the Great Lakes Region and underscore the importance of collaboration and guidance from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers in this process. A blended knowledge approach to fire restoration that directly engages with Indigenous perspectives and cultural practices can perpetuate the distinctive character of the largest remaining tracts of long-lived pine forest in the Great Lakes Region. Carefully developed fire restoration practices would enhance the visitor use experience within one of the most frequently visited wilderness areas in the United States while re-engaging directly with Indigenous knowledge and traditional cultural practices.

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“…By using dendrochronological methods on them, CMTs can not only provide temporal precision (Andersson 2005;Rautio et al 2014), but also precise information about human movement within forests and also the use of specific forest resources, notably the utilization of tree bark for construction and household items (Steward 1984), or the use of inner-bark as an important food source (Prince 2001;Rautio et al 2014). Accordingly, linking historical and archaeological information with analysis of CMTs and historic forest structure is one possible road forward to getting a broader picture of the habitation and resource use of indigenous peoples in the past (Josefsson et al 2010;Heffner and Heffner 2012;Rautio et al 2014;Larson et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally modified trees and forest structure at a Kawésqar ancient settlement at Río Batchelor, western Patagonia

et al. 2020

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Indigenous land use occurring on temporal scales over centuries or millennia shapes forests in specific ways and influences the dynamics of forest ecosystems. It is challenging to study such land use, but analysis of “culturally modified trees” (CMTs) can give precise spatial and temporal information on past land use by indigenous people. The aim of this study was to increase our knowledge of indigenous use of land and resources in Nothofagus forests by identifying CMTs and analyzing the forest structure dynamics in an ancient Kawésqar settlement site in western Patagonia. Our results show that there are CMTs at Río Batchelor and that the forest structure varies significantly within the site, indicating that Kawésqar people altered the forest by extracting various resources. We conclude that CMT studies have great potential in Nothofagus forests in southernmost America, but also face specific challenges due to environmental conditions and lack of corroborating historical information.

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Faces in the Wilderness: a New Network of Crossdated Culturally-Modified Red Pine in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Northern Minnesota, USA

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

People, Fire, and Pine: Linking Human Agency and Landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Beyond

People, Fire, and Pine: Linking Human Agency and Landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Beyond

Human augmentation of historical red pine fire regimes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Culturally modified trees and forest structure at a Kawésqar ancient settlement at Río Batchelor, western Patagonia

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