Before the American west was settled, were humongous wildfires

[raccoon]

A not uncommon event? And how about prairies in states such as Kansas and Nebraska? I got the idea from somewhere that in those days—about mid- or pre- nineteenth century—fires raged over prairies periodically. Maybe somebody can enlighten me on this.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Not uncommon at all. Global warming and human intrusion have made them worse...

but there are many species of trees that have seeds that only germinate in high temps found in forest fires.

Even these days, many forest and grass fires are started by natural phenomena like lightning.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I Googled this.....

"Fire has been a dynamic ecological force in fire-prone ecosystems for millennia. Not until humans felt the need to control or use fire was the role of fire altered in natural ecosystems. Native Americans were the first humans to influence fire regimes by controlling fires near their villages and by using fire to enhance the production of food items and basketry materials (Anderson 2006). Their effect was not pervasive, however, and varied over the landscape (Vale 2002). Remote areas were less likely to be tended than areas near habitation and, as a result, fire regimes across large areas remained unaltered by humans.

When Europeans arrived in North America, they caused dramatic changes to fire regimes. Cutting down forests for agriculture, decimating Native American populations with disease, and tilling vast areas of grasslands all caused the role of fire to change. Logging debris often caught fire and indiscriminate burning allowed fires to burn in areas and during times when they would not have naturally burned. Although there was no real fire protection organization, local fire districts attempted to extinguish human-caused and lightning-caused fires near settlements whenever possible. Wildland fire management did not occur until the late 1800s when federal land was set aside as parks and preserves."

https://fireecology.springeropen.com/articles/10.4996/fireecology.0302003

[orthoclad]

3. I don't know. There weren't any people there

50,000 years ago, before it was "settled" by the Asian migrants. Lotta glaciers, tho.