Before the colonial era, it is estimated that several hundred thousand native people lived on the land now called California........Many of their tribes manipulated fire to control the availability of plants they used for food, fuel, tools, and ritual. ..........The life-giving Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers were historically the source of one of the largest salmon bearing runs on the West Coast..............The indigenous Miwok, Patwin and Yokut tribal peoples who lived in the area saw and understood how fire optimized those Salmon populations.............Fire, by reducing the density of vegetation. allows more water to run into the rivers and lakes..............Our modern habits of suppressing fire has allowed trees and shrubs to become so dense so as to lower the water table of our riverine systems, delivering death blows to salmon

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140726082324.htm?utm_source=feedburner

Fire ecology manipulation by California native cultures

Date:

July 26, 2014

Source:

Ecological Society of America

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