River Pigs and Flames in the Forest – Part 2

All of the forested ecosystems around Bigfork, the Swan Valley, and most parts of the western United States depend on fire. And while many of the fires we experience during the summer here in Montana are started by lighting, there is large body of natural evidence, as well as traditional knowledge, that points to the immense influence of burning carried out by indigenous people and tribes.

Fire was an important tool used by tribes not only in and around summer encampments to clear out snakes and other pests but was also used in the hunting grounds to replenish grasses and clear out smaller trees and underbrush to aid in supporting and seeing game animals. According to Tony Harwood, a retired forestry and fire manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the bands of Bitterroot Salish and Pend d’Oreille people who lived on lands ranging from the Bitterroot Valley all the way to the north end of Flathead Lake were prolific fire practitioners. The Swan Valley also shows the extensive influence of indigenous burning and Mr. Harwood noted that as the hunting parties were departing in the fall, crossing over from the Swan to the Mission valley, they would regularly start small fires as they went along the trail up to the passes. Even after the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 tribal members continued to manage fires on the landscape into the late 19th century, however, as more settlers moved into the area and the Federal government started excreting more control over its newly established Forest Reserves, tension ensued with most of the indigenous burning ceasing a few years past 1900.

As we now see then fire has always been a constant around Bigfork. Early pictures show a landscape very much shaped by fire with many of the hills around Bigfork either bare or only supporting the growth of young trees. Once again, our USGS friend Mr. Ayres provides some insight by often mentioning the fire history throughout the Swan Valley, noting the mixed nature of the fires. He observed that some areas had seen repeated low intensity fires while yet other areas had been burned by more intense fires resulting in tree species shifts, many of these intense fires occurring in 1889. He also found that generally, after 40 years, most fire effects were undetectable in many of the areas he studied. Of even greater note, while we know that the Salish and Pend d’Oreille people burned throughout the Swan Valley and into the Mission Valley, he listed their fires as only the 4th highest cause, after railroad fires, prairie fires, and settler fires. Even closer to Bigfork, researchers have found that, from roughly 1600 to the 1920s, there were fires in the Crane Mountain area once every decade or so, more than likely attributable to both lighting and indigenous burning.

And while historical indigenous burning ended at the start of the 20th century; people do still start fires, both accidentally and sometimes on purpose. One of the more infamous local fires was the Echo Lake fire of 1921 which began on the south side of Swan Hill, somewhere near the Swan River Dam, on the evening of Thursday, August 4, 1921. Burning from Mud Lake to Echo Lake, the blaze destroyed the Mud Lake School (rebuilt later as the Swan River School) as well as numerous crops, barns and other structures eventually consuming over 3,000 acres and wasn’t extinguished until late September. In a recent interview, Bigfork resident and retired Forest Service employee Rick Trembath said that, given the amount of new vegetation that has grown in the last 100 years, which wasn’t present in 1921 due to the repeated fires, a fire in and around Bigfork now would have more profound consequences not only from an ecological perspective but from a human one as well. This serves as another excellent reminder that small fires can be a beneficial tool to help reduce the impact and severity when larger fires come knocking, something that indigenous people put into practice for centuries and that public land managers and private landowners are returning too.

An excellent resource to learn more about the use of fire by the Salish and Pend d’Oreille people can be found at http://fwrconline.csktnrd.org/Fire/index.html.