Tree Science Challenges Beliefs About American Forests

Early American wilderness might not have been as wild as you were taught. In the New Yorker, MR O'Connor traces how tree-ring science is challenging the long-standing idea that European settlers found a land largely untouched by people. Dendrochronologists studying ancient trees—from Yosemite's giant sequoias to remnants of longleaf pine in Alabama—found extensive fire scars, many formed in seasons when thunderstorms are rare. When they mapped those scars against time and place, a pattern emerged: Fire activity often tracked with Indigenous presence and changed sharply after Native communities were displaced or lost access to their lands.

The article follows researchers who read charred rings like archives, finding links between changes in fire activity and events such as forced Cherokee relocation and treaty-era land cessions in the Upper Midwest. Their work suggests Indigenous peoples used fire to extensively shape forests, meadows, wildlife habitat, and travel routes—challenging both the myth of "pristine" nature and the idea that pre-colonial influence was minor. Critics dispute the extent of that influence, but one scientist argues that the evidence preserved in the wood is hard to dismiss. Read the full story.