Forgotten Fires: Reconsidering the Fire Regimes of Upper Great Lakes Red Pine Landscapes

The Geography and the Envrionment Colloquium Series

with Kurt Kipfmueller, Morse Alumni Distinguished Professor, Department of Geography, Environment, and Society, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 

While most of the attention on issues related to wildland fire in the U.S. have been focused on western North American landscapes, fire has historically been a critical process in the pine forests of the Upper Great Lakes. The reduction of fire over the last 150 years, related to ignition suppression/cultural suppression as well as direct suppression of fires has diminished the memory of past fire and led to substantial changes in the forest landscape. Coupled with a rapidly changing climate, alongside dramatic landscape modification due to widespread logging, the forgotten fires of the Great Lakes’ past are likely to re-emerge within a different socio-ecological context.

Over the last 50 years, our understanding of the role of fire in Great Lakes landscapes has become more refined with additional tree ring-based studies of fire history that better capture the occurrence of repeated, low intensity surface fires. More recently, the importance of cultural fire in stewarding forests and pine barrens of the region is becoming better appreciated.

This presentation provides an overview of a growing network of fire history sites in red pine (or former red pine) landscapes across the Great Lakes and an important context for understanding the relative roles of climate and people in driving fire over the past three centuries. Case studies will be highlighted to illustrate the importance of place and culture related to the use of fire for stewarding resources over time. The network is helping to re-initiate, re-engage, and restory the reciprocal relationships between people, pine, and fire in the region. 

Kurt Kipfmueller is a professor of geography, environment, and society. He uses tree-rings to reconstruct past histories of forest landscapes, particularly related to climate variations and disturbance patterns. Professor Kipfmueller’s recent research focus has centered on understanding how fires shaped forest communities of the Great Lakes prior to widespread colonization. His work is being used to reinitiate fire use as a management tool in landscapes where fire has largely been eliminated for at least the last 100 years.

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