The creation and modification of landscape patterns through interactions among people and the environment is a defining focus in the discipline of geography. Here, we contribute to that tradition by placing 500 years of red pine (Pinus resinosa) tree-ring data in the context of archaeological, ethnographic, and paleoecological records to describe patterns of Anishinaabeg land use and fire occurrence in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of northern Minnesota. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that stories of people, fire, and red pine are tightly interwoven in the BWCAW. We suggest that preferential use and maintenance of specific sites with fire by Border Lakes Anishinaabeg before 1900 led to the xerification of forest communities that produced conditions more desirable to people in a rugged near-boreal landscape. Today, after a century of fire absence, these sites represent fading ecological legacies that are still sought by wilderness users for their recreational values and perceived wilderness character. Ironically, protections granted by the 1964 Wilderness Act are resulting in a decline of the red pine forests once used to help justify establishment of the BWCAW. An opportunity exists for wilderness managers, users, and advocacy groups to reassess the need for active management and the strategic return of frequent fire to the aging pine forests of the BWCAW. Engaging descendent communities of the Border Lakes Anishinaabeg in these efforts could help move beyond conventional approaches to wilderness management and restore the reciprocal relationship between people, fire, and red pine in the BWCAW and beyond.

通过人与环境之间的相互作用来创建和修改景观格局是地理学科中的一个确定的重点。在这里，我们通过将500年红松（都有助于这一传统美国赤松）树木年轮数据的考古学，人种学和古生态学记录上下文来描述边界水域独木舟区原野的Anishinaabeg土地利用和发生火灾的图案（BWCAW）在明尼苏达州北部。多方面的证据表明，在BWCAW中，人，火和赤松的故事紧密地交织在一起。我们建议，1900年之前，边防湖Anishinaabeg对火灾的特定场所进行优先使用和维护导致干燥的森林社区在崎produced不平的近郊景观中创造了人们更理想的条件。如今，经过一个世纪的无火，这些遗址代表着逐渐消退的生态遗产，荒野使用者仍在寻求其休闲价值和感知的荒野特征。具有讽刺意味的是，1964年《荒野法》所授予的保护措施导致曾经用来帮助建立BWCAW的红松林数量减少。荒野管理者，使用者和倡导团体有机会重新评估主动管理的需求，以及经常向大白桦林木老化的松树林进行经常性大火的战略性重新评估。