Fire in the Woods: Images of Tribal Forestry in Western Washington

  • By Jack Nisbet
  • Posted 6/11/2025
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 23301

A chart shewing part of the coast of N.W. America, 1792, Courtesy Library of Congress (2003627084)

A sketch of Fort Nisqually by James M. Alden, 1852-1860, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society (1932.93.14)

Mount Coffin and Mount St Helens, by Henry James Warre, 1840s, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

Oregon White Oak, n.d., Photo by Charles Gurche

Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River by Henry James Warre, 1840s, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

Watercolor of 4th Plain above Fort Vancouver, by Paul Kane, 1846-1847, Courtesy of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

Willamette Valley, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 (31.78.24)

Mount Washington, by Henry James Warre, September 6, 1845, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

Nicotiana multivalvis, by S. Watts, ca. 1827, Edwards Botanical Register, Vol. 13, Plate 1057

View of the Willamette Valley and Champoeg Village, by Paul Kane, 1846-1847, Courtesy ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

Table Mountain and Red Bluff, 1920s, photo by Clarence L Winter, Courtesy Oregon Historical Society

Mount St Helens As Seen From Cowlitz Farm, by Paul Kane, 1846-1847, Courtesy ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

Mount St Helens, by Henry James Warre, 1840s, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

Prairie de Bute, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 (31.78.64)

Mount Rainier from 'La Grande Prairie', Nisqually, Puget Sound, by Henry James Warre, September 21, 1845, Courtesy Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1965-76-42

Indian Village of Toanichum, Whidbey Island, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 (31.78.3)

Clallam Traveling Lodges, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 (31.78.4)

For thousands of years before the first non-Native people visited what is now Washington, tribal members used fire to manage the land around them. These burns covered a wide variety of habitats, including forests, aiming for multiple outcomes. The concept of reciprocal nurture, or "taking care" of a place where people lived so that the land could provide for the people in turn, has been part of this fire dynamic since time immemorial. In this pictorial essay for HistoryLink, Spokane author and historian Jack Nisbet explores tribal burning on the west side of the Cascades, from Whidbey Island on Puget Sound to the prairies and river valleys of Southwest Washington. Click on the image of the map above to get started. 

More: Images of Tribal Forestry in Eastern Washington

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