To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Controlled burns (probably off topic)
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 22:29:57 -0500
On Feb 5, 2011, at 9:44 PM, Richard Wagner wrote:
The natives would not have been burning the prairies, especially
large areas, as they were not agriculturists.
Actually, there seems to be considerable evidence that deliberate
burning was used in much of North America, both by agricultural and
non-agricultural societies, for multiple reasons including to
encourage the growth of desired plants, whether to feed humans or to
feed game. Prairies may have been burned to improve grazing for buffalo.