Fig. 4: Conceptual diagram illustrating changing land use over the past 1200 years in the Basin-Plateau Region of south-central Utah.
From: Legacies of Indigenous land use shaped past wildfire regimes in the Basin-Plateau Region, USA
a Farming populations prevailed between 900 and 1400 CE, and were associated with the northward expansion of maize (Z. mays) agriculture into the Basin-Plateau Region. Higher population densities resulted in relatively high and persistent abundances of charcoal influx, which is not typical of high-elevation mixed-conifer/subalpine forests. Farming populations used fire in high-elevation ecosystems for foraging and hunting strategies, indirectly affecting forest composition and structure. b Foraging populations persisted in smaller population densities after the collapse of farming populations ~1400 CE. Foragers continued to use fire for hunting and foraging, but foragers had less of an impact on high-elevation forests. c Post Euro-American settlement has resulted in high abundances of charcoal influx in mountain ecosystems, likely a result of fire suppression and climate change.
