Tag: fire management

colonization, Kalapuya, Umpqua Valley, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

After Halting Native Burning, Came Grasshoppers

David G. Lewis, PhD

Barely ten years following the stopping of tribes setting fires in the Willamette and Umpqua valleys, signs of the change visited the settlers. Settlers saw scourges of mice, lice, and grasshoppers in numbers they could not control. These insects and rodents would have been annually controlled by tribal traditional ecological stewardship practices of the Kalapuyans and other tribes. Recordation of the anthropogenic fires of the valley tribes begins with that of Jesse Applegate in his Boyhood Times book where he recalls native women setting fires on the grassy plains in the fall in the area of Salt Creek west of … Continue reading After Halting Native Burning, Came Grasshoppers

General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Uncategorized1 Comment

100,000 Native Foresters Made the World in Oregon

David G. Lewis, PhD

One hundred and sixty years ago, before native people were taken to reservations in Oregon, there were hundreds of native communities in all areas of Oregon. They were the remnants of an estimated 100,000 native people in Oregon before epidemics caused the collapse of the tribal cultures. In the year 1800, there were many hundreds more native communities scattered throughout the land. These communities disappeared under epidemics and the weight of colonization by American settlers. By 1850, there were dramatically fewer native communities with most communities the surviving remnant people from the epidemics. They condensed together for safety and security … Continue reading 100,000 Native Foresters Made the World in Oregon