Sample TTR07F

A red pine cookie with fire scars dated. This sample from the Spirit Lake study site has about a dozen scars spanning a 150-year lifespan. Even though this tree died over a century ago, cross-dating can allow us to pinpoint the dates for these fire scars. Cookies like this sample provide definitive evidence of frequent fires within these red pine dominated ecosystems and provide invaluable information to support Indigenous oral histories and inform future fire stewardship.