> One of my university associates, a specialist in fire ecology, has date
> verified fire scars, journals describing the activity, even drawings and
> paintings.  Maybe they didn't practice it in the eastern part of the US,
> but there's certainly evidence of keeping meadow lands open in our western,
> mountain valleys.
> On this point, I respectively disagree.
>


Agree. A book about the exploration of the Connecticut river in the
Deerfield area of Mass observed such purposeful burns by the NA. Went to
school near there. I see no great reason to discount that it happened since
that was a very efficient way to clear land. Aborigines in Australia did
the same.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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