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1 Key Findings

· The Wisconsin glaciation of North American peaked around 18,000 years before present (yr BP) freezing much of the earth's fresh water in its massive two mile thick ice sheet covering nearly five million square miles. The forest vegetation was drastically different from our modern forests.

· Climate changed from arid - cool (18,000 yr BP) to arid - hot (7,5000 - 5,000 yr BP) to the current warm - humid climate of the Southeast.

· Man was well established in the Southeast around 12,000 yr BP with fire as his equalizing tool to master the environment. Besides climate, fire was the single most important influence that shaped pre-European forest flora and fauna.

· Climate change, natural disturbance, fire, and man have constantly affected the vegetative landscape by generating environmental stress or benefit for various species as modern vegetation assemblages developed. These factors contributed to a major extinction of megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene epoch (11,000 - 10,000 yr BP).

· Native American populations in the Southeast were estimated to be 1.5 to 2 million with the development of agriculture. They continued to use fire frequently on a wide scale to clear land and maintain open woods and favorable wildlife habitats.

· The introduction of European diseases had immediate impact on Native Americans, causing a population collapse of 90 to 95 percent by 1700. The advent of Europeans and their economic systems impacted Native American culture and their ability to manage ecosystems by fire, which began a change in composition, structure, and pattern of forest vegetation throughout the Southeast.