adventurers Lewis and Clark, the first to navigate the length of the
             Mississippi and "discover the West," noted in their diary: "the country is
             set on fire for the purpose of collecting the different bands of Pend
             Oreille and a band of Flatheads to go to the Missouri River where they
             intend to pass the winter near the Buffalo." (Lewis, Clark and Moulton,
             2003) Fires, both naturally occurring and those intentionally set, have
             caused rangelands to appear as they do today. Native Americans burned
             fields to clear underbrush, make better hunting grounds, and make areas
             easier to defend. Throughout the settlement period of the West, fire was
             used to clear land for agriculture, control insects amongst other uses.
             Considering that the indigenous Americans are known for their respect
             towards nature and its preservation, their penchant for setting controlled
             Fire-ecology is the relationship that exists between communities and
             fire. It is a determinant as to what types of flora and fauna wi
             ...