Abstract
We generated a series of maps to help alert and educate people to the pervasiveness of fire regime changes across the eastern United States. Using geographic information systems (GIS), fire regimes were assigned to spatial vegetation databases to depict past and current conditions. Comparisons revealed substantial reductions in fire throughout the East. The most dramatic shifts took place in the former Midwestern grasslands and across a broad swath of southern and central States where pine and oak communities historically dominated. Land-use changes (e.g., agricultural and forest-type conversions) and recent fire suppression largely explain these shifts. Fire regime change was least in northern hardwood systems, in the mixed mesophytic region, and within the Mississippi Embayment. Negative ecological consequences of prolonged fire suppression are mounting while restoration opportunities are waning.
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